Crystal Blades
by Riyo K. Katanna
Summary: While agents are feaking over a missing persons case, a group of girls and their yamis are sent along with Sesshou in search for Kurama (YYH), Shampoo (R12), and Duo (GW). And we all know how they like the sceinic route. POH, FB, and more soon to come.
1. Every story has a beginning

Kenshin: Riyo does not own any of the characters from Demon Dairy, Inuyasha, Yu-Gi-Oh, or any other anime that may pop up. She realizes that the only manga that appears in this chapter is Demon Dairy, and promises the story will get better. She also apologizes for the first chapter being so long.

=^o.o^=

I collapsed on my bed, totally exhausted. If this was how the first week of school, I didn't want to know what the next week was going to be like. I nearly went insane from boredom in Math, was put on the spot in Latin, forced to play the flute while half starving to death, had received homework in every subject, and once again got into a fight with everyone about my ultimate misery during sports. It had simply started when I mentioned to Jamie how I hated soccer and could have done tennis if only she hadn't given in to everyone on the soccer team. And of course she attempted to put the blame on me, which I reacted to by trying to put the blame on her. Then of course we both tried to share the blame with Cassidy, which got Laurie involved. Then Cassidy tried to put blame on Laurie, which I disagreed with because Laurie had been trying to help on that first day of school. Pretty soon, the argument turned into the great big fiasco much like the one that happened on the first day of school, except this time, I ended up attacking Jamie, as usual, by pulling her hair while digging my nails into her arm, as usual, which, as usual, she returned. The coaches were too busy to break us up, as usual, so Laurie had to, as usual. Tara just couldn't resist watching, and started giving Jamie and I a lecture on how we should try not to get into physical fights as often, as usual. Jamie told her that she kept telling me to punch her instead of pulling her hair. Luckily, Mr. Smith called Tara over, so she didn't have time to react to that comment. 

I rolled over onto my stomach and buried my face into my pillow. I didn't know how I was going to survive the next two months. I wished I could just fall asleep then and there, but I knew that I had too much homework. I'd probably be busy until eight o'clock. 

"Feh. And you think you have problems, little hanyou."

I lifted my head out of my pillow and looked up. Standing over me was a young man, at least sixteen years old with his arms folded across his chest. His hair was jet black and reflected no light. A pair of glossy black wings rested on his back. He wore black clothing, the sleeves and collar embroidered with silver and metallic blue thread.

"Get up."

"Shut up, Kenshin. I need some time to wallow in my own self pity."

"Pathetic," he growled. "You're planning to lie here all evening?"

"No."

"Then get up."

I sat up and glared at him. "Gee, what's got you ticked?"

He growled again. "Oh, nothing much. I just got to sit around the house all day with nothing to do."

I sighed. "Look, I would have let you come with me today, but Set was going to be there, and because of the last time you two met, I didn't exactly find it a good time for you to come."

It wasn't until I finished that sentence that I noticed something glittering on Kenshin's index finger on his left hand.

"What's that?"

Kenshin slipped the ring off his finger and held it up. It was a simple silver band with a single sapphire on it. The moment he removed it, it began to change in size and shape, until it was no longer a silver ring, but a sword. Etched upon the blade was Celtic-knot- like designs. On the hilt, right above the rather large sapphire set into it, was the name KATANA.

"A rather nice specimen, don't you think," said Kenshin. "You wouldn't believe where I found it."

I swallowed. "Where?"

"In that wooden chest in the back of your closet."

Uh-oh. Busted. Kenshin's eyes narrowed. 

"Where'd you get it?"

"From my mother." That really was the truth. Actually, I got the ring from my mother. It had once belonged to my great-grandmother. I found out about the sword myself. Of course, Kenshin wasn't going to believe me.

"You want me to believe that you got this weapon from your mother?"

"If I was planning to use it, I would have by now."

"I have a feeling you don't know that things potential."

Kenshin muttered something, and the sword slowly began to shrink. "I think it's best that I keep it for now."

"Oh no you don't!" I yelled. I leapt at him, trying to grab the sword out of his hands. Kenshin swung it out of my reach, the sword slicing through my lamp. The lamp shuddered, and then fell in two pieces. 

"See?" said Kenshin.

"So?" I argued. "It's still mine!"

I tackled him, bringing him to the ground. I was about to grab for his right arm when I felt a shot of pain. I sat up, holding my left side. There was a little trickle of red blood. I removed my hand and stared at the large scratch. It looked pretty deep, but not too deep to be fatal. I glanced from the sword to Kenshin's face. He seemed just as startled as I was.

"I-I didn't mean to"

"Of course you didn't mean to, baka."

I staggered up to a standing position, once again holding my side and holding out my hand at the same time. 

"Just give me the sword."

Kenshin gripped the blade even harder.

"I don't think that would be wise at this moment."

"I'm its rightful owner! Give it back!"

I once again leapt at him reaching for the sword. My fingers wrapped around the blade.

"Riyo, you baka!"

My feet left the ground as I was thrown back into a wall and my eyes were forced to squint as a blinding light filled the room. My head knocked into something. Then, there was darkness.

=^o.o^=

Eclipse was jolted awake. He sat there in the darkness for a few seconds trying to figure out what had just happened. Then he remembered. Mortals. Mortals in the castle. He could feel their presence. Actually, he had a feeling there was only one mortal. But he could sense the presence of another trespassing being. Eclipse rolled out of bed and slipped on his shoes. 

For a moment Eclipse considered waking up Raenef to help him. It would certainly be the perfect hands on experience. Baka, he thought to himself. Raenef is not ready. How could I forget what happened during that one lesson with the Crusader? And now we have two mortal mouths to feed because of him. He would simply have to dispose of them.

Eclipse walked out to the middle of the room. He closed his eyes and pictured the balcony.

"Go!"

=^o.o^=

"Ok girls, you can put your plaster models on the-oh, Jamie never let the plaster get that close to someone's hair again!"

Jamie put the bowl of plaster back on the table as quickly a possible before Cassidy could turn around and catch her in the act. Cassidy didn't even bother.

"Uh, Mom, where should we put the plaster models?"

"Oh, right there on the-Val! Your not supposed to run in here!"

"Mrs. Adrelin?"

"Right there on the windowsill."

Cathy Adrelin leaned back on the display table.

"Let me guess, you have lunch next?"

"Yep," confirmed Jamie.

"You have it with Riyo and Laurie today, right?" Cathy questioned Cassidy.

"Um, yeah, I think so," answered her daughter. "Right Jamie?"

"I dunno. It's Riyo who always keeps track of these things."

"Wait, I forget, did she say anything this morning?"

"She's absent, you baka," Jamie reminded Cassidy.

"Absent?" gasped Cathy. "I wonder why. She seemed fine yesterday, and George didn't mention anything when they came over on Tuesday. Did Riyo say anything, Cass'?"

"No, not that I remember, anyway. She was complaining about a headache, though."

"She's always complaining about a headache," mumbled Jamie, a little too loudly.

WHAM! 

Everyone stopped chatting as the door to the Upper School Art Room slammed shut. Standing in the doorway were two people, a man and a woman. The man was tall, with dark brown hair and beady black eyes. He was wearing a long black trench coat and tucked under his right arm was a notepad.

"Cathy Adrelin?" he called out.

Cathy cleared her throat. "Yes?" she called out from the middle of the room.

" Mrs. Adrelin, we'd like to question you a little about a case relevant to this school."

The silence was almost suffocating. Everyone kept looking back and forth between the man in the doorway and Cathy Adrelin leaning on the table. She seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"Fine, fine. This class lets out in a minute. You wouldn't mind waiting outside until everyone goes to snack, would you?"

The man glanced at his partner. She was much shorter, only a little bit taller than Cathy. Her hair was a light auburn and was dressed in navy blue, a color that clashed with her green eyes.

She nodded to her partner. "We understand," she said simply, then turned and lead her partner out into the hall.

It didn't take long for the Upper School Art Room to clear out. Someone had managed to spread around a rumor the French Toast Sticks were in the Cafeteria, so of course everyone rushed there as quickly as possible. So of course Cassidy and Jamie were left to help pick up everything.

"Mommm, do I have to?"

"Please Cass', I need to get this cleaned up as quickly as possible."

Some one at the doorway cleared their throat.

"It's fine Mrs. Adreline. We'll just carry on in here as it is," said the detective in the black.

Cathy sighed. "Fine, fine. Go ahead girls, get to the Cafeteria before the line gets too long."

Cassidy let out a short yelp of joy and rushed out of the Art room with Jamie close behind her. She was half way down the hallway when she noticed that Jamie had stopped.

"Dude!" Cassidy called out to her.

Jamie didn't return the call. She just stood there and stared out the door into the Valentine Garden.

"The windows are open"

"So?" yelled Cassidy. "Common, I have to go to my locker to get my lunchbox."

"Don't you want to know what you're mom's talking about with those agents."

Cassidy hesitated. She did want to know what her mother was doing in there, but she and Jamie could get caught eavesdropping, and besides, she was hungry.

Jamie didn't wait for her reply. She walked out side and crouched underneath the open window.

"Jamie! We can get in trouble!"

"Shhh, I can't hear!"

Cassidy sighed. She didn't have a late lunch today, so she guessed she could skip snack. She walked out into the garden and sat next to Jamie.

The man flashed his badge as he sat down on one of the art stools. "Agent Bakes." He nodded to his partner. "Agent Sharpe. Missing Persons Department. I believe you have heard about the disappearance of one of your students. Riyo McCarthy?"

"Yes, I've heard a bout that. The Head of School informed all the teachers about that this morning."

"Her father in formed us he's friends with your husband.

"Yes."

"We've also heard that it's the same with your daughters."

"Well, yes, I guess that's true. They tend to hang out in this little clique they've seemed to form."

"Clique?"

"Well, yeah. It's always the four of them together. Or at least the three. Laurie Machzvoit isn't always present."

"Laurie Machzvoit," Agent Sharpe said thoughtfully. "Who are the others?"

"Well, there's Riyo of course, and my daughter Cassidy, and this one other girl, Jamie Dauhgart."

"Hmmm, and for how long has Riyo know each of them?"

"Well, I think Cassidy's known Riyo since first grade, but Riyo didn't come here until fifth. I'm not quite sure when Riyo met Laurie, but it was after she met Cassidy. All three of them met Jamie in seventh grade. Riyo and Jamie always seem to be the ones getting in trouble, and Cassidy always seems to get pulled in with them, so it's always Laurie that ends up pulling them out-"

"Look," interrupted Banks. "The last place this girl was seen was in her room. You know what was found the next time after someone walked in there?"

"N-no. All the faculty was told was the Riyo was missing."

Agent Sharpe gestured to her partner to remain silent. "A struggle. A struggle had obviously taken place in that room. It was a mess. All the sheets were on the floor. Papers all over the place- (They've obviously never seen my daughter's room, thought Cathy. It's always like that.)- and a lamp cut cleanly in half."

There was silence. Then:

"Ms. Adreline, do black feathers have any significance to you?"

"No. Why?"

"Black feathers were found thrown all over Riyo's room."

=^o.o^=

The first thing I noticed was my throbbing headache. I clutched my head, trying to ease the pain by applying pressure.

"'Bout time. I thought you would be out forever."

I opened my eyes and looked around. I was lying in the middle of a roofed balcony that looked strangely familiar.

"I warned you not to touch the sword."

Kenshin was sitting on the railing, right smack in the middle of the full moon behind him. At his feet was the sword that had cause this, its deep blue sapphire glittering in the moonlight.

I sat up and winced as my side hurt. "Baka," I whispered.

"I heard that," he growled.

I slowly managed to stand up. "You could have explained instead of just grabbing it from me." I took another glance around. "And I wouldn't mind you explaining to me where we are."

Kenshin's ears perked up. "Shush, baka." We sat there in total silence. Suddenly, Kenshin disappeared into thin air.

"Kenshin." I yelled. "Where the-" I stopped. A shiver suddenly traveled up my spine. I turned around and then figured out where I was. Eclipse was standing there behind me, a cruel smile upon his lips. 

"Well, well, what do we have here? Another knight?"

He glanced at my sword. The Demon Lord's Castle, I thought. I'm in the Demon Lord's Castle. I'm stuck in Demon Dairy.

TO BE CONTINUED.

=^o.o^=


	2. Set's Clue

Me: "Um, hey. I'm kinda in a hurry hereI do not own any of the characters from Demon Diary, Inuyasha, etc. Uh-ohI thing Kenshin just found the chocolate in the kitchen."

NOTE: Don't worry, I promise I'll get Sesshou-maru in here by the fourth chapter. Just bear with me

^_^

"Jamie?" 

Cassidy started waving her hands in front of Jamie's face. 

"Hey, dude!"

Jamie didn't even blink. She continued to sit absolutely still, staring out into the field hockey field across from the porch outside the cafeteria.

"Look, Jamie, I'm also upset about Riyo's disappearance. But that doesn't mean that you should start _acting _like her."

Jamie glanced at Cassidy. "Act like her?"

"Well, yeah. Isn't this exactly what she did the day when we forced her to sign up for soccer."

"She was curled up into a ball rocking back and forth."

"Yeah, whatever. You do that too."

"But I'm not doing that right now, am I?"

Jaime turned back to the field. "Black feathers," she whispered.

"What?"

"Nothing." Jamie stood up. "I'm going to the bathroom."

"Oh." Cassidy started after her.

"I don't need to someone to come with me," snapped Jamie. "Laurie and Susanna'll be coming out anytime soon."

"Oh." Cassidy sat back down. "Ok. I'll stay here so I can tell them about Riyo."

Jamie rolled her eyes at the patheticness of her friend and walked back into the cafeteria.

=^o.o^=

"Jamie!"

Jamie paused in front of the bathroom door where she was standing.

"Jamie!" yelled Laurie, running down the Main Hallway with Susanna. "You won't believe what we heard about-"

"We already heard."

"Riyo, she-"

"Cassidy and I already heard Mrs. Adreline talking to some people from the Missing Persons Unit."

Laurie and Susanna stopped.

"They're here already?" blurted Susanna.

"Yeah, how did you find out?"

"Mrs. Mariana explained it to us. Told us that there'll be an assembly today to tell us about it."

"Why would they start questioning today?" asked Susanna. "I didn't think they'd start till tomorrow. Give it a chance to sink in."

Jamie pushed past them. "I have to go finish my English homework," she mumbled. She didn't want to be stuck with Susanna during snack going on about the workings of the Missing Persons Unit.

Laurie and Susanna turned and stared at her start walking down the hall towards her locker.

"But Jamie-"

"Cassidy's outside waiting for you. Why don't you go swap stories with her."

The two just stood there. "Better hurry up before the line gets too long," Jamie added.

"Um, right."

Jamie started to sprit down the hallway. "Go into the bathroom in the Main Hallway, you said," Jamie started to mutter to herself. "Its snack. No one will be in the bathroom in the Main Hallway during snack. Obviously you forgot about all the people in the _Main Hallway_."

Jamie dashed past her locker, down the stairs by Main Entrance and to the Sixth grade Hallway. She turned the corner, past the library, opened the downstairs bathroom door and slammed it behind her. Jamie stood there for a moment to see if anyone would come in to see what had caused that noise. She looked into the mirror. Maybe she should go into a stall just in case someone did come in. 

She sighed as she walked into the larger bathroom stall. She was expecting the worse when Set fond out the location that she had chosen. Then again, this was the place that someone was least likely to enter, ever since the bathroom had started a tendency to over flow.

Jamie closed the stall door behind her as quietly as possible. "Set?" she called out.

"Set? I know you're present, even though you said you were going to stay home today."

She heard a rustle above her. In the upper corner of the bathroom crouched, well, a boy, if you had to identify it with something human. In a way, he looked like a boy version of Jamie. He was slightly Oriental looking, with the tan skin. His hair was brown, with the natural blonde highlights thrown in. On the sides were unevenly cut strands, too long to be bangs, too short and ragged to be the other. His eyes, on the other hand, were anything but human. They were slits, like snake eyes, and the whites were not white, but black. The irises were blood red, and the pupils were a dark navy blue.

"You called?"

"Don't say that, you sound like Kenshin."

Set jumped down from the corner into the middle of the rather large bathroom stall.

"A girls bathroom. As usual."

"What do you expect me to do, just waltz into only boy's bathroom in the Main Hallway?"

"No, just find someplace other than a bathroom. I prefer to wander around places freely other than a bathroom stall in a girls bathroom."

Jamie took a piece of bubble gum out of her pocket and tossed it to Set. "That make things any better?"

Set popped the piece into his mouth. "Almost."

Jamie's eyes narrowed. "Okay. Talk."

Sets eyes narrowed back, a feat that seemed impossible with the original narrowness of his eyes. "You let me out just for information?"

"I know you know about Riyo."

"What about Riyo?"

"Where she went."

"Whatever do you mean by that?"

Jamie whacked Set upside the head. "Riyo's been missing since last night. You know what they found in her room? Kenshin's feathers. All over the place. Not only that but no way of exiting the room but the door way, which was obviously not used."

Set leaned against the wall. "Oh, yes, so my suspicions are true."

"Huh?"

Set sucked the remaining flavor from his piece of gum and spit it out into the toilet. "I noticed last night that I could no longer locate both Riyo's and Kenshin's energies. The only way that that could be possible is either they're dead or no longer in this world."

Jamie whacked him again. "And you decided not to tell me that till now?"

Set grinned. 

"If they're dead, there's no hope for you're little hanyou friend, and Kenshin's sure to come back and a decade or so. If they're somewhere else, they someone should have detected their intruding energies by now."

Set stopped. He wrinkled his nose and eyes narrowed so all that showed were his navy pupils. Suddenly, he leapt gracefully over the stall door. There were scuffling noises and a familiar squeal.

Jamie threw open the stall door to find Set pinning Cassidy to the wall.

"Cassidy, what are you doing here?"

"J-Jamie, s-snack was over, and you d-d-didn't come back, and Laurie s-said you went this way-"

"She was eavesdropping," Set interrupted.

"I-I didn't hear much, just that part about Riyo and Kenshin-"

"Let her go, Set."

Set glanced at Jamie, the released Cassidy and let her slide to the floor. He glared down at the mousy girl.

"Midnight tonight. Don't scream when we arrive outside your window."

=^o.o^=

I stared into Eclipses red-brown eyes. There was something defiantly demon like about them. 

"Knight, I am sorry that the Demon Lord himself cannot destroy you personally, but at the moment he is tied up in other matters."

I stared at him for a few seconds. "Like sleeping?"

I never knew that it was possible for someone to do an anime fall in real life, but that was what Eclipse did at the moment.

"Who told you that?"

Me and my big, uncontrollable, thinking out-loud mouth. 

"Umm, Eclipse, did you know I'm one of your biggest fans?"

Actually, that's untrue. Erutis is my favorite character. But what would you say if your faced by a demon set on destroying you?

Eclipse held up a handful of dark fire. "You? Admire me? Feh. That will not work. Dark Arrow!"

I leapt out of the way, ended up tripping over myself, somersaulting and landing a few feet away from the sword. I reached out for it, but it was knocked out of the way by a black slipper.

"I'm afraid not. I'd like to end this as quickly as possible so I can get back to bed."

I rolled over a few times, them jumped back up. "Really, Eclipse, I'm flattered that you think I'm a knight, but it's not true."

A rather large fireball came my way. I had to throw myself back to the floor to miss it. I glanced at the sword. It seemed miles away.

"Eclipse, just listen to me!"

Another attacking blast came towards me, which was to my advantage. In order to dodge it, I had to hurl myself in the direction of the sword. Fortunately, Eclipse didn't see what I was doing. 

"Dark Arrow!"

This time it hit it's target, which was not part of my plan. I was tossed up in the air like a hacky sack, flipped a few times, and miraculously landed on all fours. Luckily, I landed where I wanted to be. I snatched up the sword, moved to a kneeling position, and turned to Eclipse. I was raising the sword above my head when I felt a sudden pain in my abdomen. My intestines were squirming, and it felt as if they were about to burst out from my body.

"Baka mortal. If you had only kept still, maybe you could have died a less painful death."

Death Drill. He was using the Death Drill on me. Any moment now I'd explode into bloody smithereens. I closed my eyes, dropped my sword and clutched my abdomen. What was taking so long? Why couldn't he just get it over with?

"That is where your wrong, baka demon. Since when was she a ningen?"

I opened my eyes and looked up. There was A dark shadow looming over me, a shadow with wings. 

"Kenshin, you baka, what are you doing?"

Then there was an exploding sound and a bright light. A bright light with black feathers scattering all over the place.

TO BE CONTINUED


	3. Kenshin's Nephew

Kenshin: *sigh* Of course this pathetic excuse for a Hanyou doesn't own Demon Diary or Inuyasha or Yu-Gi-Oh. But I do

^_^

I reached out a caught one black feather floating in front of my face. It still had that dark glossy look to it. It was then that I noticed that my feet were no longer touching the ground. 

Kenshin grunted as he landed back on earth and set me back down, not so gently. I looked up at him and noticed a wound and his left wing. It looked like a bad burn, and there were no feathers around it. So that's why his feathers are so shinny, I thought. They act as a shield against magical attacks.

I reached out for the sword blindly, and noticed that it was no longer there. Eclipse held it, and was inspecting it with interest.

"Katanna," he whispered. He looked up at Kenshin. "I believe you are from one of the tribes?"

"Yes," answered Kenshin. "But I cannot say I am from the same world. That sword, by the way, is not mine."

Kenshin walked up to Eclipse, picked the blade from his open hands, and dropped it next to me. Eclipse smirked.

"Ah, yes, Kenshin. You're nephew has been constantly visiting us."

"The little brat," Kenshin mumbled. "I hope he hasn't been too much trouble."

"I've done what I can. I take the mortal girl is yours."

Both Kenshin and I winced. We both knew I hated to be belonging to someone or a group of someones.

"Yes, the girl is mine. It is best you not call her a mortal. No ones is quite sure what she is. You did notice how long it took for your Death Drill to take place."

Eclipse ignored Kenshin's correction. I got up, took my sword, and started walking towards the nearest exit. Both turned to look at me.

"Where are you going?"

"Where do you think?"

Kenshin knew all about my constant wandering offs.

"Let her go. She's incapable of any harm."

"Hey!' I snapped. "I'm more capable than some people!" I started whirling around the blade in my fingers.

Kenshin turned away from me. "You and I have some important topics to discuss. She won't do anything foolish if it's stated that you can discipline her for me however you like if she steps out of line."

Eclipse turned away from me, and they walked of the balcony together. Then I was left on my own in the Demon Lords castle.

=^o.o^=

Despite Set's warning, Cassidy still got freaked out when she heard someone tapping at her window. She looked at her window and saw someone's shadow through the curtain. She ducked under her covers and tried to figure out something to do. She would be seen if she went to her parents.

"Cassidy? Open up!"

Cassidy peeped from under her covers. She could now see two shadows from outside her window.

"Jamie?" Cassidy jumped out of bed and pulled open the window. Standing on the roof above the kitchen were Jamie and Set. "What are you two doing here?"

"Baka," mumbled Set. "I told you to expect us. Get out here."

"What?"

"He wants you to get out here onto the roof."

"But, my parents-" Cassidy whimpered. "If they find us-"

Jamie pulled her out of her room. "Yeah, that right, we're just gonna sit here on the roof all night. Get out here."

"But, what are we-"

"You've been in Riyo's room before, right?" snapped Set.

"Yeah, but-"

"Calm down and picture it in your mind."

Cassidy found it best to listen to them at that moment. She closed her eyes and tried to picture Riyo's room as best as possible. She could hear Set mummer something, and suddenly, everything felt differently. She could feel the night breeze, and the temperature was warmer. Everything seemed silent, not like her noisy street. Cassidy opened her eyes. It was darker, but a little bit of light streamed through what seemed like a window. Someone turned on a light, and she heard Jamie moan. 

"Sorry 'bout that," Said Set's voice. They were in Riyo's room, or what had once been Riyo's room. There was Yellow tape blocking off the room from the staircase, and everything had been exactly as the detectives had explained it. Black feathers, everywhere. Set picked one of them up.

"Kenshin, definitely." He let it float to the ground. "He sheds so easily."

"Aren't we contaminating the crime scene?"

Set turned to Cassidy. "As if those bakas could figure out anything from a case like this." His nose wrinkled. "I smell bloodshed."

Jamie shivered with excitement. "Blood?"

"I don't see any blood here," commented Cassidy.

"No blood stained anything. But someone, or something, bled here."

Cassidy shivered uncomfortably. "How much blood?"

"Not that much, in this word at least. We can't be sure about elsewhere."

Cassidy looked down and noticed something glittering on the ground. She bent down and picked it up. It was a silver ring, with a single sapphire.

"Hey, Jamie, look at this. Bet Riyo would have loved this. You know how she's crazy about the color blue."

Jamie walked over and looked at it. "Cool. Wait, is that blood?" A thick red substance was dripping down the gem. She began to reach out for the ring. Set glanced in their direction, and his eyes widened as he caught sight of the ring.

"Jamie, no!"

It was too late. Jamie's fingers wrapped around the ring, and chaos and confusion consumed them all.

=^o.o^=

I peered down the dark hallway. I had not idea where I was, or where I was going. Luckily, I had a full moon to like my path. Now I was praying that I didn't run into any Crusaders. 

I twisted the sapphire in the sword, and it began to shrink and change shape back into a ring. I slipped the ring onto my left hand. I'd have it when I needed it. For now, I didn't feel like lugging it around.

I heard heavy fluttering nearby. Uh-oh. The Crusaders found me. I wondered if killing a Crusader would be considered stepping out of line. There was a little squeal, and what appeared to be a baby dragon stumbled out into my path. A baby Crusader. That's what it had to be. It looked a lot like that dragon Raenef had been holding on the back of the first manga. I slowly stepped forward and knelt down to its level. I held out my hand and let it sniff it, then started patting it on the head with my other. I smiled. It was actually pretty cute.

There was a rustle of feathers. I had learned to identify the sound accurately by hanging around with Kenshin. Could he have come looking for me?

"Kenshin?" I called out. I heard the sound again. "Kenshin, that you?"

There was a sudden explosion of movement as something black whizzed by me, snatching up the baby Crusader. It narrowly dodged the wall, and started zooming down the corridor. I started chasing after it. It looked like a person with black wings, wings like Kenshin. But it wasn't Kenshin. 

I had trouble keeping up with it. There were times when I had to chase Kenshin, but Kenshin had never flown this fast. It only stopped when it crashes into and unexpected column. It let go of the baby Crusader, somersaulted over onto the floor, and landed upright. It was about to take of a again when I jumped the last few yard and grabbed onto it's foot. We both ended up face flat on the floor. I jumped up and pulled off my ring, transforming it into the sword.

"Great, another knight?"

I looked up. "It" was already standing. It was a boy about my age. He actually looked a lot like Kenshin. He was dressed exactly like him, had the same black wings, and the same black hair. His hair was longer, though, and was spiked. The very tips were dyed red.

"No I'm not a knight."

He looked me over. "I believe you. You're not dressed as one."

"Who are you?"

"Why should I tell you? You havn't told who you are."

"Yes I have. I told you I'm not a knight."

He grinned. "Takumi. Professional Thief."

"Riyo. Kenshin's Reincarnation."

Takumi's jaw dropped. "Kenshin's?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"He's my uncle."

I looked down at the baby Crusader. "You were going to steal it?"

"Correction. I was in the process of stealing it. You just got in the way."

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why were you going to steal it?"

Takumi crossed his arms. "'Cause they're cool. I could have raised it my self. Then, when it was big enough, I could have flown it-"

"Why ride it when you can fly yourself?"

He shrugged. "Dunno."

My sigh was covered up by a loud screech.

"Uh-oh. The mother's found her young."

"You idiot! You just stole it like that!"

"Well, yeah! What did you expect me to do?"

"You could have trapped her or something!"

"I tried, but it didn't work!"

We both stopped yelling as a huge shadow loomed over us. I looked up, and was frozen still.

TO BE CONTINUED


	4. Why Not To Anger A Crusader

Me: Yay, I finally got some other characters in besides Eclipse! Sorry for making you wait so long for Sesshou-maru. I promise there will be more of him later. Along with Bakura, and Marik, and a bunch of other people. Which, by the way, I do not own.

Kenshin: *growl* "The word yay must have been invented by a girl. How often do you here a guy say yay?" Couldn't agree more with who ever sad that.

Me: Don't mind him. He's just mad because Set keeps breaking into my school locker and writing in all my binders. Gee, Rath/Jamie, don't you have any control over him?

^_^

Jamie staggered up from where she had been lying. Her head felt worse than ever, worse than after Riyo pulls on her hair. Jamie sat up and looked around. She was on some sort of curved, roofed balcony. Cassidy was lying next to her, absolutely still. Jamie couldn't tell if she was alive or not. Set appeared to be nowhere in sight. What happened? Where they dead? Where they in Heaven? Jamie tried to stand up, and moaned as she felt the pain all up her spine. Hell, more likely. 

"Hey, I recognize this place."

Jamie looked back down at Cassidy. She was now sitting up, and seemed fine.

"I swear I've seen this before."

Jamie looked around. Now that Cassidy had mentioned it, the place did seem familiar. The balcony was made out of large blocks of stone, and columns with vine line designs at the bottom held up the ceiling. Thick live vines hung down off the roof. Everything was silent, except for the breeze rustling the leaves of the trees nearby. A full moon illuminated the whole scene. A manga. Jamie was sure she had seen it in one of her manga. Which one, she could not recall.

"Demon Diary," Cassidy whispered. "I'm sure. I remember Raenef was standing right there. Remember? We showed Riyo the picture and she refused to believe Raenef was a guy."

Jamie remembered. She turned and looked to the East and saw the lights of the city market.

"That must be the temple of Rased over there." Jamie turned from the scenery and started walking along the side of the balcony. 

"Come on."

Cassidy jumped up. "Where we going?"

"Looking for someone."

"Who?"

Jamie smirked. 

"Anyone."

Cassidy didn't follow. 

"I think I hear someone coming."

Just as she said that, Kenshin and Eclipse came bursting out. 

"Are you sure you heard the scream come from out here?"

"Yes, I'm positive," snapped Eclipse. "I've been living here for the past 2000 years. I know every part of this castle. It's probably just your idiot nephew again. His arm nearly got ripped off by a Crusader last time."

"Riyo?"

Kenshin turned and saw Jamie and Cassidy.

"What are you doing here?"

"Kenshin, you're here"

"Yeah? So?"

"Well. If you're here, Riyo must be here too."

Kenshin blinked at Jamie.

"And if you're here, so is Set."

=^o.o^=

"AAAIIIIIEEEE!!!"

Set grinned with delight at the scene before him. He never knew that Crusaders breathed fire. Maybe he could bring an infant one back and raise it. He looked up at the Crusader mother. Then again, maybe it would be safer if he just caught an adult instead.

"Quick, kill it or something!"

"No, I can't do that!"

"Yes you can!"

"Then the little baby will be an orphan!"

"Baka, then it would be easy for me to steal it!"

"Why don't you kill it yourself?" 

Takumi ducked again as the Crusader spewed a fireball at him, narrowly missing his feathers. 

"You're the one with the sword!"

Riyo was up against the wall, well out of the way of fire. She still clutched her sword in her right hand. My little hikari is right, thought Set. She does look a lot like Angelina Jolie with her braid over her shoulder like that.

"Don't tell me you never come up with backup plans!"

Takumi moved a little to close to Riyo, which forced her to duck the fireball headed towards both of them. Where Riyo had been standing moments before, on the wall was now a black scorch mark.

"You expect me to come up with one every time?"

"Can't you fly? Why do you stay down here?"

Takumi tackled Riyo, just missing a huge swinging tail.

"My feathers are heat sensitive."

"Well, can't you do anything but dodge?"

"You don't seem to be doing much either."

Takumi started to rise, but Riyo pushed him back down as the tail came swinging back.

"Hey, you're the one who got us into this mess."

"So you're going to just sit around waiting for me to save you?"

Both Riyo and Takumi jumped up and started to run from the approaching fireball. Riyo twirled her blade around.

"I may be the one with the weapon, but that doesn't mean you can't help out."

They went hurling towards the ground as five claws came towards them at top speed.

"And what am I supposed to do?"

"Distract her!"

"How?"  
They rolled away from each other as a foot came crashing between them.

"Pretty much keep doing what you're doing right now!"

Set watched as Riyo jumped up from where she was lying, dodged the Crusaders other foot, and grabbed on to its tail. What is that baka doing? thought Set.

Riyo hung on for dear life as the tail thrashed around.

"Try to keep her still!'

"How?"

"Stay in one spot."

The Crusader stopped moving as much. Set couldn't see what Takumi was doing, but it seemed to work. Riyo started to slowly climb up the tail, trying not to look down. She ended sliding back down a few feet as the tail swung around unexpectedly.

"AAAIIIIIEEEE!!! Why do I have to be the one to distract her?"

"Because she doesn't care about me! She just wants to kill you!" Riyo yelled down as the tail swung over Takumi. She looked down to the end. She had hardly made any progress. Riyo took a deep breath. Being cautious was only slowing her down. As the Crusader stopped to blow a fireball at Takumi, Riyo jumped to her feet and ran up the tail onto the Crusader's back. She threw herself back down onto all fours as she neared the wings, just as the tail swung towards Takumi again. There, though Set. The hard part's done.

Riyo looked up to her goal. Only a few more feet. Takumi let out another yell.

"Ouch, my wing! You know how long it's going to take to grow those feathers back?"

Riyo took another deep breath. If she was able to do the tail, she should definably be able to do this. As the Crusader took a few steps forward, Riyo jumped to her feet and ran up onto the top of its head. Then, she did the mistake of looking down. She stood there, absolutely still. Baka, thought Set. She hadn't planned on what she was going to do.

Riyo just stood there, somehow keeping her balance despite all the movement. She stared at the scene below her. Fire, everywhere. Takumi once again just avoided being burnt to a crisp. Riyo didn't know what to do, but she had to do something. Then, suddenly, something came over her. She reached out, grabbed the frills on the side of the Crusaders head, and yanked them back. The Crusader let out a roar and started thrashing its head around, looking for its ambusher. Its tail swung out, crashing through one of the columns. Riyo did here best to hold on by wrapping her legs around its neck.

"Takumi, do something!

"Like what?"

"I dunno, go get help before she destroys the whole place?"

"Dude, here you are with a sword in your hand and you ant me to go get someone?"

"I already told you that I didn't want to kill it!"

Riyo sat there for a moment as if considering it.

"Because they're cool!"

"So?"

The Crusader suddenly jerked its head. Riyo let out a yelp of surprise as she lost her balance and ended up hanging upside down on the neck for dear life. Ok, though Set. This has gone too far. Obviously they can't do this on their own. 

Set started to summon a ball of dark energy, but before he could use it, he saw Riyo raise her sword. She held it out for a second, and then plunged it into its left eye. Black blood ran down onto her. Set noticed that it was slowly making her loose her grip. Riyo pulled the sword back out, as the Crusader jerk back, then shoved the blade back into the other eye. Blood rained down. The Crusader thrust its head back and forth, forcing Riyo to loose her grip on the black fluid. She let go, and went falling to the floor. Set watched as her body made impact with the ground. She hadn't screamed. She hadn't emitted any sound of terror.

=^o.o^=

"Is she still breathing?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"YES, THE GIRL IS STILL BREATHING!"

Kenshin tried to bat Raenef away from his shoulder.

"Ok, ok, you didn't have to yell."

Eclipse cleared his throat.

"Master Raenef, perhaps you could go help the others look for Takumi and this "Set" that mortal keeps going on about."

Raenef's eyes lit up.

"Really?"

"Yes. You'd know more about the castle than they, now wouldn't you?"

"Yay!" said Raenef cheerfully, and scampered away.

"Got him out of the way," mumbled Kenshin. "You," he barked at Erutis.

"Me?" said Erutis baffled, looking up from the silver blade she had been holding in her hands.

"Yes, you. Give me that sword."

Erutis handed it over reluctantly. "A really good model. Don't now if I'll ever find one like it again. Can't tell what metal it's made out of, but it's forged real nicely. Maybe it's and alloy of iron and silver, or-"

Eclipse cleared his throat again. "Who knows? Maybe you'll see one like it again."

Kenshin twisted the sapphire in the hilt, and it shrank back to its ring form.

"Wow," gasped Erutis.

Kenshin slipped the ring onto Riyo's finger, causing her to suddenly sit straight up and start coughing like crazy.

"God, I feel like shit."

She looked at Kenshin.

"Let me guess, you're never going to let me go out on my own again."

He considered it for a moment. "Actually, considering the fact that you were able survive, it's more likely that I let you go on your own more often."

Riyo sighed and started to get up. "Do I want to know what happened to the Crusader?"

"The Crusader had to be put away with."

"Oh."

Silence.

"I guess it wouldn't have been able to live without eyes."

"Actually, it was because of blood lost and the belief that there was no possible means of calming it down."

Riyo caught sight of the now orphaned baby Crusader. She walked over to it and started patting it on the head.

"You know that it wasn't totally your fault, right?"

"Yeah, I know. So, have you found your nephew yet?"

Eclipse looked at Kenshin.

"I guess you were right when you hypothesized that this was your nephew's doing."

Riyo took the baby in her arms and turned back to them. "I'll go help look for him."

"No," snapped Kenshin. "We already have everyone else doing that. Besides, you're in no state to do so"-Riyo looked down at her bloody and ripped clothes-"and there are more important things to deal with."

"Ok, ok, fine. Whatever."

"Erutis, take Riyo to your room."

"What!"

"You're going to be sharing your room with Riyo as long as she stays," explained Eclipse.

Erutis looked furious, but she had no choice.

"Fine. Come on, this way."

As Erutis lead Riyo away, Eclipse and Kenshin went in different directions without a word. Takumi waited until he could no longer hear any footsteps to jump down from his hiding space. So they were all looking for him. He knew that his uncle knew where he was, and he didn't know how long it would be before his cover was blown. But for now, he had a perfect opportunity.

=^o.o^=

Sesshou-maru looked over the lights of the city market place. He wasn't sure where he was, but he was sure this was the place to find out, including all the other information he needed to know. The night breeze blew around his long white hair. He better get going before it got light out again, when all the normal villagers would come out to shun him.

Sesshou-maru stepped into the empty streets. Most of the shops were locked up. The only businesses open were probably the pubs and inns. Sesshou-maru began to stroll down the streets, looking for somewhere that might look promising. He paused as he saw a man come out from a glowing doorway and empty the contents of a bowl into the streets.

"You there!" the man called out to Sesshou-maru. "Get in here before you freeze to death!"

Sesshou-maru didn't feel any cold, but he went in anyway, for he considered it an invitation from fate.

The room was to warm for his comfort. There was fire roaring in the fireplace, and a bunch of people in the corner singing. Sesshou-maru's nose wrinkled. Humans. The smell was over powering. He noticed a couple of young girls sitting at a table looking at him and giggling. Not here, he thought. Must they follow me everywhere?

Sesshou-maru walked up to the bar and slouched on one of the stools. 

"What will it be?"

Sesshou-maru looked up at the bartender.

"One scotch."

The bartender nodded. "You aren't from around here, are you."

"No," said Sesshou-maru flatly. He should have known he wasn't going to be welcome here.

"Hrmph. We usually don't get that many strangers here. Most are intimidated the Demon Lord's castle nearby."

Sesshou-maru's Ears perked up at the sound of "Demon Lord's castle".

"Say, have you seen any strange people recently?"

"I see strange people every day. You mean strangers?"

"Yes, I guess. A young woman, long black hair, ruby-like eyes, wearing an onyx ring, most likely accompanied by a few other men."

"Ah, yes," said the bartender thoughtfully. "Fierce one, she was. She came here this morning, asking about some guy named Kenshin. When I told her I've never heard of him, she started interrogating me about the Demon Lord's castle. Got pretty nasty when I told her it was best for a mere lady like her to stay clear of that place. It's a miracle that she left without a fight."

Sesshou-maru thought for a moment. "Where is the Demon Lord's castle?"

"Somewhere to the west. No one is quite sure. The last time someone dared to go there had to be at least a decade ago."

"Was that woman the only one to question you about those topics?"

The bartender grinned. "Besides you, no."

Sesshou-maru did not return the grin. He stood up and flipped coin onto the table. 

"I thank you for your hospitality."

And with the rushing in of new customers, Sesshou-maru was gone.

TO BE CONTINUED


	5. Murder and Hostage

Kenshin: "Hanyou stay up after midnight to finish this for you, so you better review."

Me: *yawn* "Uh, yeahI don't own Ranma 1/2, Demon Diary, Inuyasha, Yu-Gi-Oh, or anything else that turns up"

=^o.o^=

The cold midnight breeze made me shiver as it blew around my untidy hair. I was thankful that they had such a thing as a hairbrush in the wold of the Demon Lord, and that Erutis had had a spare one. I winced in pain as I remember the pain I had gone through to try to brush my hair out of that braid I had worn since this morning. Or had it been last night? I didn't know how time differed between our wold and theirs. 

I pulled the cloak tighter around me for warmth. I actually love cold weather, and this was paradise for the moment. It had finally dawned on me that this was real and really happening. At first it had all been as if inside a dream: fun and exciting, but bound to end soon to the tune of your alarm clock. But that hadn't been the case. I did not wake up in my bed after falling asleep from exhaustion on the spare bed in Erutis's room. I had woken exactly where I had fallen asleep. I wasn't sure how long it had been since I had come here, but I had either not slept long or slept for days, because it looked as if the sun was about to rise.

It was obvious that something was going on. Eclipse seemed to be acting pretty dodgy, and Kenshin was refusing to fill me in. Takumi had been missing, even though everyone claims he has gotten into worse trouble before. Erutis claimed there had been strange reports from the nearby marketplace. And from what I had heard, the others were here: Jamie and Cassidy, along with Set who was wandering around somewhere in the castle. And people do not get sucked into other worlds for no reason. 

"You usually aren't an early riser."

I sprang back into the present.

"Why are we out here? Can we go back inside now?"

I turned to Kenshin standing next to me.

"_You _don't have to be standing _out _here."

Kenshin snorted.

"I prefer not to depend on a helpless girl's eyes to see."

"Helpless? I was able to survive a Crusader, and the word you use is _helpless_?"

"You're being attacked by a Crusader, and what do you do? Stab its _eyes_?"

"At least I didn't run around screaming like a girl, like some do."

"You fell 20 feet."

"And survived."

"And what if you didn't? You shouldn't have been up there in the first place."

I had started yelling, while Kenshin was arguing in a normal tone.

"Maybe I wouldn't have if you hadn't run of saying 'I have better things to do'. 

"I did not say that. And there were important things to discuss."

I had run out of things to say except for that one last resort.

"Why do you care anyway? If I die, you'll just come back as someone else."

Kenshin looked at the moon and didn't answer. I sighed. At the moment, I was the victor.

"What time is it, anyway?"

"Exactly 3:17 AM on Thursday morning. You have been missing in your world for forty-nine hours and sixteen minutes. The sun should begin to rise in one hour, fifty-six minutes."

"I need to know how many seconds too."

Kenshin ignored me and continued to stare at the moon.

"Look, Ken, I just wanna know how long we're going to be here."

That got his attention.

"Since when did you call me Ken?"

"Don't try and change the topic."

Kenshin sighed. "I don't know. I really don't know."

"Is there _anything _you can tell me?"

"Not at the moment. Not until Set shows up."

I sulked. "Oh, I get it. It's some crazy spirit thing."

"Not exactly."

"Whatever." I turned to walk back to the room I was staying in.

"Riyo, stop."

Even though I didn't have to obey to such a command, I stopped and turned back to him.

"What?"

He was gone. I noticed that my night vision had greatly improved.

_Take off your ring, _Kenshin's voice rang in my head from his soul room.

"Dang, Kenshin," I mumbled. "Must you do this?"

_Shut up and take off the ring._

"Can't make me," I mumbled.

_Would you prefer to end up in my soul room permanently?_

"Fine," I mumbled as I pulled of the ring to summon it into its weapon form. I remembered how once I had to suffer trying to have a conversation with Set on the phone because he "accidentally" locked Jamie into his soul room. When I finally got through to her, she didn't seem to pleased. "What do you want now?"

"You to be more aware of your surroundings!" Kenshin shouted through me as he used my body to whip around and slice off the head of some shadow creature creeping up behind me. It screamed in pain as it returned to the darkness from which it came. The apparition quickly faded away until all that remained was a single small black stone where it had stood.

_Don't touch it!_

Kenshin appeared in his physical form and picked up the stone. He inspected it carefully, then handed it to me.

"Should be safe. Keep it by you, and don't loose it."

Kenshin looked at the setting moon and twitched his nose uncomfortably. "Can we go in now?" he said in a slightly whinny voice.

I sighed. "You go ahead. I'm going to look for Jamie. I have a suspicion that she's up already." I looked hopefully at Kenshin. "Maybe she just might have and idea of where Set is."

Kenshin crossed his arm from the freezing breeze. "Fine. But keep in mind that I didn't get as much sleep as you did."

=^o.o^=

Takumi lay in wait as he watched Riyo and Set walked towards his hiding place. His tail twitched nervously. Kenshin shouldn't be able to locate him with the charm he had used. But then again, his magic had become rusty from lack of use. He had not expected his uncle to find him here.

"Are you sure you know your way around here?" Riyo questioned

"Um, not exactly."

Riyo aimed a whack at his head.

"But I'm sure that this was the way Erutis lead her," Kenshin quickly added.

"Well, as long as I keep track of the way back to Erutis's room"

Takumi sighed with relief. They had stopped looking for him. He could now carry on without being noticed. Takumi waited until he could no longer hear their footsteps to jump down from the top of the column he had been hiding on. He'd be able to find them later, when they were least expecting. But for now, it was a good thing he knew the castle so well. While the two were wandering around lost, Takumi could sneak in and finish a little business he had waited so long to finish. Do it tonight, and he wouldn't have to worry about it for a few more decades.

Takumi gave himself a running start and began to glide down the corridor. As he felt the breeze blow through his hair, the light of the setting moon glinted off the ruby on the index finger on his right hand. He pulled the gold ring off his finger as he landed in front of a closed door. Takumi couldn't help but chuckle to himself. To think that Kenshin was still wandering around the castle without a clue while what he was seeking was so close by.

The wooden door opened easily, just as he'd expected. The only rooms with high security were Raenef's and Eclipse's. Of course, if they had known what else was going on here, maybe that wouldn't be so.

There was only one person sleeping in the room. Obviously Set had yet to come out of hiding. This was perfect. He could strike fast, make a run for it, and then keep low until his uncle left. And he would finally get a load of worry off his back. For a while, at least. 

Takumi stood beside Jamie's sleeping form and rose the sword parallel to her neck. He hardly ever used it, so it should have been sharp enough to slice right through. Takumi grinned.

"Farewell. See you in the next century."

Takumi began to swing the sword down upon his victim. CloserTakumi could hear the whirling of the blade. So closereally closethe sword stopped a few inches above her neck, and swung back over his head. Takumi refrained from yelling in surprise for fear of waking her. So closeso close to freedom.

"Oh, no," said a cold voice. "I have feeling we'll be seeing each other again quite soon."

Takumi loosened his grip on the sword, and turned around to meet his attacker. Set stood there, gripping the edge of the blade with his right hand. He was gripping it so hard that blood was dripping done the golden metal. He seemed slightly out of breath, as if he had arrived there in a great rush.

"Let go of my sword."

Set cocked an eyebrow. "Your sword?"

Takumi gulped. "If I let go of it, you'll kill me."

Set sighed. "Yes, I probably would. An if you don't I'd probably kill you anyway." Set raised his other hand and a dark ball of energy appeared. "Unlike you, I still have a free hand."

Takumi gulped again. He was in a tight spot. If he remain there, he was most likely going to be killed. If he let go of the sword and ran for it, he'd still probably end up dead, either from decapitation or dark energy. Even if he got away, Set would get him sooner or later. And he'd be leaving behind a perfectly good sword. For now, what he needed was to stall for time, and look for and opening. And he knew just the trick.

"Why are you so thirsty for revenge? I mean, it's just a stupid little sword."

Set's eyes narrowed. "Stupid little sword? First of all, never refer to a weapon as stupid and little. And second of all, both you and I know that this weapon, which, by the way, you were about to kill both me and my hikari with, is much more than it seems. And you know what happened on that day that you stole this sword from me? You, a little bastard, stealing from me, a professional grave robber? Along with that sword went my dignity and honor. And I wouldn't mind getting that back."

Takumi was glade that he often had to practice keeping a poker face. He had succeeded in not calling attraction to what was behind Set. 

"I give you permission to whatever to my nephew after all of this get straightened out."

Set whirled around without letting go of the sword. Kenshin and Riyo stepped out of the shadows. They almost looked as if they had walked a mile to get there. Actually, with Kenshin leading, it was quite likely that they had walked a mile to get there.

Set put on a begging face. "Oh, please? Can't I at least maim him right now? What could be so urgent that-"

"We were attacked by a servant of the dark."

Set expression totally changed. "What? Here? How could they have found us already? There are only two so far!"

Kenshin shrugged. "Dunno. There was only one. Most likely it was just sent out to look around. We got it before t could report back."

Set was too baffled to notice Riyo walk up and grab on to the middle of the blade.

"Let go. Both of you."

"No!" both Takumi and Set barked. Everyone fell silent as Jamie groaned and turned onto her side.

"Set," reminded Kenshin. "You know the rules."

Set loosened his grip.

"Takumi"

"But Uncle Kenshin"

"Why shouldn't he hurt you? I did warn you."

Takumi whimpered and slowly let go of the sword. He braced to be sliced. Instead, Set let go along with him.

"Thank you," said Riyo. She set the sword down at the foot of Jamie's bed and looked around. "Now all I wonder is where's Cassidy." Just as she said that, there was a loud crash and a high pitched scream.

=^o.o^=

Laurie couldn't help but feel content at the moment. She had finally gotten her hands on the fifth Ranma 1/2, after weeks of reminding Jamie. She had had hardly any homework, her sister was at her friends, and her mom had finally stopped bugging her. No she could read in peace. For some reason she felt guilty about Riyo. She had felt like it was her fault she was missing. It had always been her job to make sure all her friends didn't get into to much trouble. What ifLaurie tried to shake the thought from her mind. Riyo had a tendency to wander off from the group. Her independence often made others nervous, and tended to get her into trouble. This time, she probably just wandered off too far. She would probably turn up soon.

Laurie tried to stop thinking about it by reading Ranma 1/2. She was relieved to see that Ranma did not get eaten by a shark, but disappointed to find out hat neither did Akane. Laurie was totally into the book when she heard a crash in her sister's room next door. She jumped with surprise, then sat there totally frozen on her bed.

"Dang, Bakura," said a strange voice. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Well, how am I supposed to know?" said another voice with a British accent. "I've never been here. Ask the mortal."

"I-I don't k-know. I've never b-been h-here," said a nervous third voice that Laurie definitely recognized. How could she forget the voice of a person that much of a perverted sense of humor. She winced. What the hell was _he _doing in _her _house? 

"Useless," said the second voice. "I told you he wouldn't make a good hostage. He was probably why we ended up here."

Laurie hear footsteps come towards her door.

"Well, there's got to be some way out."

Bakura walked right in without noticing her.

"C'mon, we have to get there before the rest."

Marik followed in dragging Max behind him. Laurie hoped that they really couldn't see her and that they weren't just ignoring her. Too bad. Max saw her right away.

"You! You're the taller girl with the poofy hair!"

Bakura and Marik caught sight of her.

"You know her?"

"Yeah, she's friends with that girl you're looking for."

Marik grinned. "A much better hostage." He dropped the ropes he had been holding Max by. Marik grabbed one of Laurie's arms and Bakura grabbed the other, dragging her off the bed.

"Wait, what do you think your doing!" Laurie yelled. She struggled out of Bakura's grip, but he quickly grabbed her again.

"We don't have much time! We'll tie her up at the next place we land!" Bakura yelled. He pulled out a bronze sword, and a swirling door of silver appeared in Laurie's room.

"Wait!" called Max. "Aren't you going to untie me?"

"Why should we?" asked Marik.

"Let's go," barked Bakura.

And with that, Bakura and Marik jumped into the swirling mass of silver, dragging Laurie along with them.

TO BE CONTINUED


	6. The Time Has Come

Me: "Heh, I'm actually supposed to be doing my English project right now, but oh well. Anyway, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Inuyasha, Demon Dairy, or, um anything else. I have no idea why I keep writing these disclaimers when not all the characters have appeared yet. I guess I'm just being overly cautious."

Kenshin: "You? Cautious? Ha! Yeah, right! I'd have to say you're the one among your friends who thinks the least about consequences."

Me: "No, I just happen to be the most independent."

Kenshin: *snort*

Me: "Ok, maybe I do have some daring too."

Kenshin: "I call it stupid curiosity. Keep in mind, curiosity killed the cat. That's why cats have nine lives."

=^o.o^=

Jamie woke up to the scream and fell out of bed.

"What the-" she looked around. "Set, where the hell have you been? And what the hell are all of you doing in my room?-"

We all started talking at once.

"Really, Jamie, be reasonable, we didn't-"

"If I hadn't been here he would have-"

"How did you get here? Really, I have no idea what's going-"

"I mean, nothing against you, we can control who we-"

"-AND WHERE THE HELL IS CASSIDY?!"

I'm not sure what mad us all shut up, Jamie's question or the second, louder explosion and another scream.

"Um, is it just me, or did that scream sound familiar?" asked Set.

Then, everyone all together: "Uh-oh." All five of us ran out of the room and in to the corridor, stopped for a moment, then ran in the direction we thought it was coming from. We hear another explosion, this one defining, along with a scream almost just as loud.

"Damn it!" cried Jamie. "How could I have not heard her leave?"

"At least we know she's still alive!"

"Not necessarily," mumbled Set.

"Not comforting, but true," agreed Kenshin.

It was then that I noticed that Takumi had disappeared, but it was also at that moment that we turned the corner to find Cassidy crouched on the floor quivering and looking up at none other thanSesshou-maru? It appeared that he had gotten in by blowing up part of the wall.

"P-please, d-don't hurt me, I-I was on-nly l-looking for th-the b-b-bathroom-" Cassidy was stammering. Sesshou-maru was paying no attention to her. He was looking around at his surroundings, and caught sight of us. He nodded his head in acknowledgement. Suddenly, Cassidy stopped squealing. She had caught sight of us too. Both Set and Kenshin immediately knelt on the floor. Jamie and I glanced at each other, unsure of what to make of this. Kenshin and Set, _humbling _themselves? I mean, Sesshou-maru's cool and stuff, but still, Jamie and I weren't kneeling, and we pretty much worship him so much that that would be the type of thing we would do.

Suddenly, Set reached out and pulled Jamie down to the ground next to him. I too felt Kenshin pull my arm. I pulled out of his grasp.

__

Get down, he shot at me.

__

Why should I? I shot back.

I glanced at Sesshou-maru. Was he glaring at me? He seemed to be waiting for something.

__

Would you prefer to be blown up?

I reluctantly kneeled down to the floor, glaring at Sesshou-maru. Kenshin reached out and forced my head down, and I ended up glaring at the floor.

"Rise."

Kenshin let go of my neck, and I quickly jumped back up. Was it just me, or was Sesshou-maru still staring in my direction?

"They're half-breeds."

Kenshin opened his mouth to say something, but Set cut him off.

"You've got to understand, Lord, that being our reincarnations, it cannot be guaranteed that their blood will stay pure."

Sesshou-maru turned to Set. "Yours is part vampire-" he turned back to me-"but she is part elf."

"Could be worse," I mumbled. Kenshin whacked me in the head.

"What was that?" Sesshou-maru asked calmly.

"I said it could be worse. I could be part human." I couldn't believe this. I was mouthing off to one of the most powerful, not to mention coolest, demons ever. I had a feeling I was in for a big lecture from Kenshin later.

"True," Sesshou-maru said simply. He turned to Cassidy. "But what is she doing here? She is a full-bred human."

His time Kenshin answered. "Lord, she got sucked into this mess without actually understanding what's going on."

"Neither did I," mumbled Jamie. Her comment was answered by a whack upside the head.

"None of us know what's going on," I said much louder than Jamie had. And yet, I received the same response.

"You must excuse our reincarnations' rudeness."

Sesshou-maru glanced around at all of us, including Cassidy.

"It appears that you have been keeping almost everyone in the dark, except for a selective few."

Sesshou-maru raised his left hand, and suddenly he, Set, and Kenshin were gone.

=^o.o^=

"Daaaadddd! Susanna still hasn't gotten of the computer!"

Susanna sighed in exasperation. "Rebecca, I have to do something!"

"Is it homework?" Susanna's younger sister asked.

"No but it's important."

"We'll, Dad said that unless you're doing homework."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not finished yet."

Rebecca lunged for Susanna, trying to knock over the chair she was sitting in. Susanna shoved back, knocking Rebecca to the floor. Rebecca sat there for a moment, then, jumped up and ran into the other room. 

Susanna turned back to the computer screen. Who cared if her sister told on her? Susanna was sure she finally understood what Riyo and Jamie had meant about "the Hunter". Since the beginning of the year, Jamie and Riyo had been going on about she being the Hunter, and that she should be feared. Susanna had tried to reassure them that she was not a Hunter, but in fact, a Seeker of Light. But perhaps they hadn't been trying to say that she was eventually going to stick stakes through their hearts on a full moon. Riyo and Jamie must have known that she had caught on to what they really were, but they were being cautious, just in case they were wrong. But maybe Riyo knew something like this was going to happen, and had been trying to give her clues this whole time. The full moon, the disappearance, the victims. It all lined up. It had been one week since Riyo had disappeared. Susanna felt so stupid. Because of her blindness, she had allowed more victims to be taken. Jamie and Cassidy had hadn't been seen since for five days straight, and Laurie had been reported missing just two days ago.

Susanna closed the e-mail where she had tried to explain how she had nothing to do with Hunters, and opened the next on from Riyo.

__

Yes, I understand that is how you truly feel, but those emotions cannot prevent you from doing things you'd prefer not to under another's control. I am sorry that Jamie and I must be your enemy. A Hunter and a Light Seeker. Awkward, but not impossible.

Kenshin. That must have been Kenshin speaking there. It would have made more sense if Kenshin had called Jamie Set instead, but oh well.

Riyo, or was it Kenshin, had claimed She could start doing things that she would prefer not to do, but couldn't help it. Riyo and Jamie must know how it felt for that to happen. But from the sound of it, Kenshin and Set hadn't done anything too drastic yet. Perhaps that was what the warning was about. A Hunter and a Seeker of Light. Susanna refused to believe it. 

Susanna sighed, closed the e-mail, and opened the next one. How could she not have noticed all the clues, all the hints? Riyo, Jamie, Cassidy, and Laurie. All in the past week. Who next? It was her fault. And she had to fix it.

=^o.o^=

Cassidy finally stood up, but she still seemed a little shaky. 

"What was that?"

I took a deep breath, trying to keep in my excitement. "That there was-"

Jamie couldn't take it anymore. "That was Sesshou-maru, Lord Fluffy-

"-one of the coolest anime characters ever!" we Jamie and I yelled together.

Cassidy just blinked at us. "Did you notice his ears?"

Jamie and I fell. "Cassidy!"

We looked up and saw a large sweat drop on her face.

"What tha-"

"Did you just see what you did?"

Jamie and I looked at each other. It was then that we noticed we were on the floor.

"Did we just do-"

"-one of those anime fall thingies?"

All together: "Weird."

"Well, we are technically part of a manga now-"

"-so that means-"

"-we can be chibies and stuff!" Cassidy finished for us.

Anime fall. Cassidy glared at us. 

"Well, we can. And how come I can't fall?"

"We're naturals," I answered.

"Well, I'd like to see you do a decent sweat drop."

There was a loud clearing of the throat.

"When you're finished doing whatever you're dong-"

We all turned around. Sesshou-maru was standing right behind us.

"Apparently I forgot that half-breeds and mortals need a separate transportation spell from full-breeds."

I could feel my face turning red. How long he had been there watching us, I didn't want to know. I heard Cassidy squeak.

"Well, um, you could have warned us or something," said Jamie, not really noticing what she was saying.

I heard Cassidy squeak again. I looked to see what was wrong and found her quivering and staring at Sesshou-maru in fear.

"Cassidy?"

"H-he's back."

"Yeah? So?"

"He doesn't like me. He wants to kill me, doesn't he?"

"Um well, maybe this isn't the best moment to tell you he isn't very fond of humans."

"Hanyous aren't my favorite either," Sesshou-maru growled. "But for the time being, harming any of you would be the most foolish thing to do."

Jamie, Cassidy, and I were all suddenly thrown to the ground, as the world around us seemed to shift. It quickly tilted on one direction, and all three of us started to slide down. Just as quickly as it had started, it jerked in the other direction. Cassidy gave a yelp of surprise.

"What the heck?"

The ground jerked a third time, and then became level once again. All three of us were sprawled out on the floor, but Sesshou-maru was still standing, as if nothing had happened at all.

I sat up and rubbed my head. "You could have warned us."

We were no longer in the corridor, but now in a great hall that looked slightly familiar. In the middle of the room there was a large table-like stone with two swords sitting upon it. One was the solid gold with the ruby; the other was iron with an amethyst. They were laying an uneven distance apart from each other, as if they were supposed to be joined by others.

"Now that we're all here"

Eclipse was standing behind the stone. Raenef, Erutis, and Chris were standing on either side him, with Set and Kenshin on the ends. I noticed that Takumi was there to; Kenshin was holding him by the ear.

"Riyo"

I started at them blankly. "Wuh?"

"Your ring."

"Oh."

I took off my ring and just held it for a second, watching it as it grew into the sword.

"What do you want with it?"

"Just put it there on the stone," said Eclipse.

I glanced at Kenshin.

"Riyo"

"Ok, ok."

I put it on the stone with the two other swords.

"Now what?"

VROOSH! Three bodies came crashing down in front of the stone, just nearly hitting me. There was a flurry of dust and action as they tried to get straightened out.

"Baka, why'd you let go of the hostage?"

"Baka? So it's my fault that we entered from the sky?"

"I'm telling you, it's these mortals that are affecting our travel. Quick, grab the rope before she gets away!"

The dust quickly began to settle, and we were surprised, and not to mention slightly amused at what we saw. Laurie, with here hands tied behind her back, was crawling out from the dust cloud.

"Hey! Laurie! Dude!"

Laurie looked up.

"Dude!"

"Dude!"

"Dude!"

"Dude!"

Marik and Bakura were lying on the floor, trying to untangle themselves.

"Get back here, you little brat!" Marik yelled.

"Dude!" I exclaimed. "Look, it's Marik and Bakura!"

Jamie must have felt as if she was dreaming. First Sesshou-maru, now Bakura and Marik.

"Dude!" we both yelled together.

Both Marik and Bakura looked up at us.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a few fan girls," Sesshou-maru scoffed. Everything went silent. Jamie and I turned and glared at Sesshou-maru.

"Uh-oh," both Set and Kenshin gasped. They knew what was coming.

"What did you just call us?" I hissed.

"Keep your temper, Riyo," Laurie reminded in vain.

Sesshou-maru chuckled. "Look at you, going crazy at every male character."

"When did we say that we thought that they were _hot_?" 

"It's not our fault that manga is so sexist!"

"Yeah, why do all the cool characters have to be male?!"

Both Set and Kenshin jumped to stop us, but it was to late. I started pulling at a clump of Sesshou-maru's long hair as Jamie began kicking him wherever she could.

"Take what you called us back!"

Marik and Bakura jumped up. "Heh-heh, looks like we're not going to need the hostage after all!" They grabbed for the swords on the stone, but Takumi was standing on top the silver and iron, waving the gold above his head.

"Oh no you don't! These are mine!"

Sesshou-maru unsheathed his blade, which we hadn't noticed before. It was almost glass like, transparent. On the hilt there appeared to be a prism.

"Why, you little brats!"

Cassidy and Raenef screamed. "I told you! I told you! I told you he wanted to kill us all!"

Marik and Bakura pulled the blade from underneath Takumi. Takumi fell down, slicing the gold through the thin air between the two.

Set and Kenshin pulled us back. "Please excuse their rudeness, Lord! You must understand, they can get so uncontrollable at times! They are half breeds, after all."

"Didn't you see how they disgraced me? Prepare to die!"

"Hey, that no fair!" yelled Takumi.

"How is this unfair?" Bakura yelled back. "You were hogging all three!"

"But now it's two against one."

Erutis and Chris whipped out their swords. "We'll be willing to join in!" 

"Please, Lord, Can't we work something out?" Kenshin pleaded as he made us duck.

"Yes, really, despite this our reincarnations actually admire you a lot!" Set added.

"SILENCE!"

Thunder sounded all around the room.

"LOOK AT YOU IDIOTS!" Eclipse yelled. 

We all stood there frozen in our places. We all did look pretty foolish and, not to mention, pathetic. Cassidy and Raenef were both curled up in a ball rocking back and forth, probably thinking about pancakes. Laurie was trying to crawl away, her hands still tied together. Kenshin and Set were holding Jamie and I back by our shirt collars, and Sesshou-maru was standing there frozen with his blade up in the air. Takumi was still sitting on the stone with Marik and Bakura staring up at Erutis and Chris. We all had a look of nervousness on our faces.

"NOW WE'RE GOING TO SIT DOWN AND GET EVERYTHING EXPLAINED _WITHOUT _ANYONE'S HEAD GETTING CHOPPED OFF!"

There was something about the way Eclipse said that that made me feel like I didn't want to know what was going on.

TO BE CONTINUED


	7. Yharas and Zhiren

Me: "Yeah, I seriously should be doing my History homework right now, but I accidentally fell of the swing after school today and landed on my leg in some weird position, so now my leg is in excruciating pain, and I don't feel like limping upstairs to my room where my book bag is, so I'm just going to stay down here for a while."

Kenshin: "Baka. I told you to be careful while doing all those crazy stunts you and your friends made up."

Me: "Hey, I wasn't doing anything then. Ironic how the one time I get hurt on the swings is the one time I'm not hanging upside down on them."

Kenshin: "You were holding on with only one hand-"

Me: "So? I do that all the time."

Kenshin: "-which made it easier for you to slide off and fall five feet."

Me: "Hey, at least I wasn't hanging upside down. And I wasn't that high up."

Kenshin: "Either way, it was your fault, so don't you blame it on me."

Me: "I wasn't blaming it on you."

Kenshin: "You were about to."

Me: "Uh, yeah, before this argument goes any further, I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, Inuyasha, Demon Diary, ummm, damn, I forgot, was there anything else? Oh well, I don't own them either. Oh, and just so you don't get confused, I changed Susanna's name to Cristina. Turns out she hated the first code name I gave her. I'll try to change it in the other chapters."

=^o.o^=

"Cristina?"

Cristina [once known as Susanna] quickly closed the e-mail she had currently been reading before her dad could walk in the room.

"Cristina? Rebecca said that you won't get off the computer."

Cristina whirled around in her chair to face her dad.

"Just a few more-"

"No. Get off. It's your sister's turn."

Cristina could see Rebecca standing in the doorway, sticking her tongue out at her.

"Can't I at least print-"

"No! Now get off."

Cristina sighed and got out of the chair, not before she stuck her tongue back out at Rebecca. Of course Rebecca would tattle on her. Cristina doubted that whatever her little sister's posse was e-mailing her was more important than the e-mails with all those clues in it. She stomped up the stair into her room.

Cristina threw herself onto her bed, throwing that wretched pillow with the ugly pink unicorn pillowcase on the floor. This was so frustrating. She could be figuring where Riyo and the other were right now, but no, she had to be stuck up here because little baby sister had to check her e-mail. 

Things had been crazier then usual at school. News and suspicions on the case kept coming in, most of them false. Those detective people had interviewed pretty much every student, and yet people were still being taken out of class to be questioned. Cristina tried, but she couldn't remember exactly what she had said to them. If she had told them what she really thought was going on, of course they wouldn't believe her. Because Jamie and Riyo were no longer there, fifth and sixth graders constantly overran the French room during study hall. And on top of that, Cristina hadn't whacked anyone in the face with her lunchbox for weeks. Who'd have thought that the disappearance of her insane friends would only cause more insanity? Still, the hallways seemed quieter than usual.

Since she couldn't bee downstairs reading the e-mail, Cristina closed her eyes and started going over everything she had figured out so far. A new moon was due in a couple weeks. Hadn't Jamie once said something about also being affected by the new moon? Maybe something would happen then

"Heh, foolish mortal. Then again, you're closer than those imbecile detectives."

Cristina sat straight up in her bed. At the foot there stood a woman who seemed vaguely familiar. It took a few seconds to register in Cristina's mind. Her full figure. The woman looked exactly like her full figure art project from seventh grade except instead of blond hair hers was snowy white, and in her hand there was a dagger where there should have been a sword.

"Come."

Cristina didn't move.

"So you're going to resist, are you?"

"Who are you?"

"I think you should know that already. I am the Seeker of Light." The woman pointed her dagger at Cristina. "And it's time for destiny to be fulfilled."

=^o.o^=

Everyone except for Sesshou-maru sat down like obedient dogs. We all had a feeling that this was not the time to anger Eclipse. 

He cleared his throat.

"Bakura and Marik, you go first."

"Awww, do we have to? Why do we always have to go first?"

"I SAID, 'BAKURA AND MARIK, YOU GO FIRST!' LAST TIME I HEARD, KAIBA WAS THE OWNER OF THAT SWORD, AND I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOU TWO ARE DOING HERE WITH IT!"

Yep, this definitely was not the time to anger Eclipse.

Bakura let out a whimper. "Ok, ok, we stole it from Kaiba, and a source told us that this girl-" nodding towards Laurie, her hands still tied together-"was a friend of the holder of the silver, so we brought her along just in case we had to "bargain" with you about the swords. We came here planning on getting the rest of them, and would have if this winged rat-" Marik said, indicating Takumi-"hadn't have gotten in the way."

Eclipse nodded. "Thank you. Now, Set, you explain your predicament to everyone."

Set growled. "The gold one belonged to me, but that twit-" pointing to Takumi of course-"stole it from me millenniums ago. I just managed to get it back, but because I'm now a possessive spirit, I'm not allowed to use it, so it gets handed down to my hikari."

Jamie's eyes widened. "That's mine?"

"No," explained Eclipse, "it's still Set's. You just get to use it instead. But that's not the point. How did you get here?"

"My hikari and her mortal friend-" Set waved his hand in the direction of Cassidy-"somehow convinced me to take them to Riyo's room to look for clues. They, of course, just happened to find the ring still sitting in their world, and of course my baka hikari had to ignore me and touch it."

"Ah, ok. Kenshin?"

"You should be asking Riyo," growled Kenshin."

"Me?! I havn't a clue what's going on."

"If you had listened to me and not have touched the sword-"

"Maybe if you had explained to me-"

"STOP ARGUING AND JUST EVERYONE EXAXTLY WHAT HAPPENED!" Eclipse shouted. Kenshin shut-up immediately.

"He started it," I mumbled.

"Hey, if you hadn't-"

"I TOLD YOU TO STOP ARGUING!"

This was when I decided I shouldn't test Eclipses limits and just tell him what happened.

"I guess the sword belongs to me. My mother gave it to me in the form of a ring. _Kenshin_ got it into his head that he should have it, and then we had this fight and I ended up getting stabbed-"

Eclipse held up his hand to stop me. "You mean to tell me that Kenshin first tried to take the sword, _which does rightfully belong to you,_ and then used it against you?"

"It was an accident-" argued Kenshin.

"Yeah, actually, it was kinda my fault. See, I kinda tackled him while he was holding the sword out, then it scratched my side kinda deep, but not that deep-"

"Blood?" Eclipse interrupted.

"Huh?"

"Was there blood on the sword?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, and this baka got it into her head that at that moment she should make a grab for the sword," said Kenshin.

"Oh." Eclipse leaned back in understanding. "So that's why you're here."

"Huh? Why are we here?" I asked.

"I'll explain everything to the ones who don't understand later. For now, we are just listening to everyone's stories. Sesshou-maru? You havn't gone yet. I believe your tale is most interesting."

Sesshou-maru, who had remained standing, nodded and sat down cross-legged. He set his transparent sword down in front of him.

"This sword," he began, "does not belong to me. It actually belongs to the White Warrior of Light, Yharas. She disappeared years ago. Since then, I have been the holder of this sword, protecting it from misuse and using it to search for it's true owner. Recently, the first task has become more difficult. Zhiren, the Black Warrior of the Dark, has returned to destroy the sword of Yharas and to add the remaining lesser swords to her collection in order to strengthen her own Sword of Darkness. My fear is that she was already done part of the second. I'm not sure where she or some of the other sword owners are at the moment, but the sooner we figure this out, the better off we are."

"Thank you, Sesshou-maru." Eclipse turned to the rest of us. "And that is where you come in."

=^o.o^=

Outside, the wind blew strongly. A dark figure watched the Demon Lords castle from a nearby hill. The figure was a woman clad in warrior's garb. Her black hair blew around freely, and her deep red eyes glowed fiercely against the rising sun.

"So, Sesshou-maru, you have beaten me again," she whispered to the dawn. "That leaves me no choice."

She pulled her blade out from its scabbard and held it up to the newborn light. It was total darkness compared to the light around it. It was black and shadowy, and yet at the same time appeared solid. In the hilt there was a black stone that broke the rays of the sun, like a prism, except instead of scattering the light, all pointed in the same direction, northwest. The woman smiled fondly upon it.

"Guthor!"

A short man wearing simple clothing with a rather long dagger at his side came running up.

"Yes Mistress Zhiren?"

Zhiren whipped around and swung her dark blade at him. Guthor dodged just in time. She frowned.

"Bring me the hostage. And next time, don't dodge." She gave a wicked smile. "Have some faith in your Captain."

Guthor returned and uncomfortable smile and nodded. 

"Yes, Mistress Zhiren."

He turned to leave.

"Wait, Guthor."

He paused and turned to her.

"Do you hear that?"

"No, Mistress."

Zhiren turned to face the sun. A silver void was forming in from of it, growing as it swirled faster and faster.

"What luck," she exclaimed.

The void grew larger and larger until it looked like a few grown me could come out of it. Instead, out fell one teenaged boy with his hands tied together. He looked Chinese, with black hair and silver glasses. Zhiren walked over and picked him up off the ground with one hand.

"What have we here? What is your name, boy?"

He stared at her with wide eyes. "M-my name? M-max."

She gave him a false smile. "Ah, Max. And where might you be from?"

"I-I don't know. I'm-m not sure w-where I am at the m-moment."

"Yes, that can be a problem," said Zhiren in fake understanding, placing him back on the ground. "Would you be from, let's say, the eighth precinct?"

"I don't know. I've never heard of it," said max, feeling much more comfortable now that his feet were back on the ground. "Weird things have been happening where I'm from. My friend Jamie and two of her friends went missing, these two guys appeared in my room from out of no where claiming they were looking for one of Jamie's missing friends, Riyo's her name, but then they tied me up and took me away. Said something about a hostage. Anyway, we somehow ended up in one of Jamie's remaining friend's house, and then they decided to take her instead, so they grabbed her and this silver portal thingy appeared out of nowhere and they jumped though it and I jumped after them and now I'm here."

Zhiren gave a real smile this time. "Oh, is that so?" Riyo you said?"

Max nodded.

"Guthor, take this boy to Mokuba. I believe we have found ourselves another bargaining tool."

"Wait! Where is he taking me?" Max yelled as Guthor dragged him away.

"Don't worry, dear. If all goes well, you'll be seeing your little friends again soon."

Zhiren turned back to the castle. "And to you Sesshou-maru, don't worry. We'll have another chance to finish what we should have finished long ago."


	8. Truth Revealing

Me: "Look, I'm really sorry it took so long for me to get this up. It ended up being another late night this time."

Kenshin: "This time, I actually encouraged it. She has no right to keep readers waiting."

Me: "Yeah, well, I'm so relieved to finally get this up. Be expecting some revisions on other chapters soon. I'll tell you when they're actually going to happen later. I'm sorry about the little rant I stated in the beginning of this chapter. If you get really bored, you can skip down to the last paragraph. That's the only really important part. The whole explanation of what's going on comes out in this chapter. If there's anything you don't understand, just tell me in the reviews and I'll try to explain. I really need your feedback on this chapter, so please help."

Kenshin: "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Me: "Oh, yeah, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Demon Diary, Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Yu Yu Hakusho, or Gundam Wing. And yes, they are all going to play some part in this."

=^o.o^=

Agent Sharpe shook her head at the scene before her. A bedroom of a teenaged girl. Organized, with two bookshelves filled with books. An open bookbag sitting next to the bed with homework spilling out onto the carpet. Everything seemed normal. _Except that the girl hadn't been seen for four days. _Sixth one. Sixth one this month. When was it going to end? There was a pink unicorn pillow lying on the floor across the room, the only hint of any struggle. None of it made any sense. The first one's room had been a wreck. The second ones room had looked perfectly normal. Same with the third and fourth, except the window in the room of the third had been open, while in the fourth, there seemed to means of escape. There had been a few things knocked to the floor in the fifth one's room, but that was nothing compared to the first. Each case seemed absolutely different, _except that they all knew each other, all of the victims, except for one, were girls, and they all disappeared around the same time, one after another. _And here it was, the sixth. No signs of a way out and only subtle signs of struggle, while what sources had informed Agent Sharpe that this girl had been a fierce fighter. 

It was one of the most bizarre cases Agent Sharpe had ever dealt with. The parents of the second victim said that their daughter just going outside in the middle of the night for no apparent reason was the sort of thing she'd do, but she definitely would have come back inside, but she being kidnapped while out there _was not_ likely. The family of the third said that their daughter climbing out the window was the _last_ thing they'd expect their daughter to do. The parents of the fourth, for some odd reason, hadn't been very willing to talk about their son. The fifth victim's parents claimed that there was no reason their daughter would leave. And as for the first? The first made absolutely no sense at all. The room was just enough to make the minds of the detectives back at the forensic lab spin. First of all there was the severed lamp. Science told them that there was no way something hidden in the girl's could cut through metal so cleanly. Second of all, those feathers found in the room seemed to defy everything known about genetics. The feathers had been fresh off a living creature, except no one could figure out what that living creature had been, not to mention what an animal would have been doing in her room. The skin samples from the tip of the feathers had DNA from a spectrum of animals, from raven to jaguar to snake to, most strange of all, human. Agent Sharpe didn't know what was going to come up next, and the likeliness of them all turning up safe and sound was slim. She couldn't wait to get this over with.

Agent Sharpe disappointedly took off her gloves. She had been hoping for at least a slight clue to what was going on, but she had found none. The case was still in the same place it had been when the whole investigation started. As Agent Sharpe walked over to dispose of her gloves in the small waste paper basket in the corner of the room, a glint caught her eye. She bent down and looked to the right of the basket, shocked at what she found. How could she have missed this before? There sat a medium sized diamond, in a small, fresh pool of blood. The sight chilled Agent Sharpe. She had seen this before. She had seen this before, seven years ago.

=^o.o^=

"Hey, kid."

Can't hear her, I thought to myself, only half awake. I rolled over and snuggled underneath the covers.

"Kid? I know you're awake."

I pulled the covers over my head.

"The name's Riyo," I mumbled, not really noticing what I was saying.

"That guy with the wings says it's time for you to get up."

I didn't move. _WHOOSH! _The covers were ripped off from over me. I shot up shivering, now wide awake and freezing. Erutis was standing next to the bed, the covers in her hands.

"We're leaving in fifteen minutes. I'd suggest you get dressed," she said, waving a hand at a chair with some garments folded over the side.

She dropped the covers at the foot of the bed and exited the room, leaving me there alone to get ready.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up, wincing as my feet touched the cold stone floor. You'd think the Demon Lord would devise something that would make the castle not as cold in the mornings. Maybe demons couldn't feel the cold.

I rushed over to the chair and sat in it, curled up into a ball with my eyes closed, trying to warm up. I fiddled with the sapphire ring on my ring finger of my left hand. It seemed slightly warmer than everything else in the room. "That ring knows its master," Sesshou-maru had told me last night. "You'll have an easier time with it than other people have had." My mind quickly began to recollect what had happened the other day.

__

After Sesshou-maru had explained his side of the story, Eclipse ordered us to all place our blades on the stone table. After a few screaming matches, hair pullings, and minor injuries, all except for Sesshou-maru's ended up there.

"Sesshou-maru?" Eclipse questioned as politely as one possibly could after having had to pry weapons from peoples grasp. 

Sesshou-maru shook his head stubbornly. 

"This one does not belong up there with the rest."

Eclipse most likely wished to do to Sesshou-maru what he had done to the rest of us, but that would not have been the proper thing to do, considering they were pretty much equals in this case. They were both tough and, not to mention, cool characters who seemed to know the most about what was going on here.

"Yes, Sesshou-maru. I just thought it would be fair to the others here who had to give up their blades."

Sesshou-maru nodded.

"Yes, but I still feel that it is best it stays with me at all times."

"Very well," surrendered Eclipse. "Just as well. It was just that I was going to start with an explanation for yours, that was all."

Eclipse stepped up to the stone and placed his hand upon it.

"Millennia's of millennia's ago," he began, "the universe was formed."

Eclipse paused and looked around at us, as if expecting some sort of reply. 

"There have been controversies and arguments over how exactly this happened since then," he continued, "-but that isn't the point. The point is, at first there existed only one world. And in this world, there existed two sides- light and dark. Each was equal, neither overruled the other. To represent these two sides two positions were made. One was Zhiren, Possessor of the Dark Crystal Blade, whose fights for death and destruction. The other was Yharas, Owner of the Crystal Blade of Light, whose only purpose is life and peace, and whose blade is currently in the sheath of this dog demon before us."

Sesshou-maru bowed his head, as if unworthy. Eclipse once again paused, and once again, no one responded.

"Now eventually, this one world became too small, so new ones were formed. These worlds-"

"Perhaps you should explain how exactly these worlds were created," suggested Set.

Eclipse seemed taken aback that someone had finally responded.

"Yes, I should. Good idea Set. These worlds were made purely out of imagination of the inhabitants of the first original world."

There was a snort of laughter from Takumi.

"Really, you expect me to-"

He was shut-up by a whack from Kenshin.

"I wouldn't be talking, boy, considering that is why you're here today, plaguing us all."

Eclipse nodded.

"Yes. At first these secondary worlds were just stories being tossed around by the first inhabitants-the first people we call them today- of this universe. But eventually, these stories started to take shape, until they actually existed side by side, all under the influence of Yharas and Zhiren. Some were very similar, while others showed how much imagination was needed for it to exist today. Need some proof? Look around you. I believe we all know each other, but some not personally. Instead, some of us know each other through reading and watching what we had once thought of as mere entertainment. The worlds we all come from were all once stories of the first people, who no longer exist, due to the destruction caused by the battles of Light and Dark."

There was a yawn from Bakura.

"Look, couldn't you just get to the point already?" said Marik.

Eclipse nodded, ignoring Marik's rude tone.

"Now, while these worlds we are familiar with are all under the influence of Light and Dark, it is impossible for all to be kept track of all at once. Therefore," gesturing towards the blades sitting helplessly upon the stone, "these were made, along with three others, each representing a shade of the rainbow. This was so that they'd balance out their greaters; the blades of Yharas and Zhiren, which each have a prism set in the hilt. Each color was given to an inhabitant of a major existence, and then handed down through the millennia. Unless I am misinformed, the current owners are: Me, Eclipse, of the Amethyst; Duo, of the Alexandrite; Riyo, of the Sapphire; Kaiba, of the Emerald, which has been brought here by someone other than it's owner; Shampoo, of the Citrine; Kurama, of the Spessarite; and Set, of the Ruby, who, due frequent losses of life, is required to hand it to his hikari. At the moment, these four," gesturing towards the swords on the stone, "obviously have been held accounted for. The whereabouts of the other three, on the other hand, are unknown. At this moment, it is crucial that all seven of the blades are brought together and kept safe until the current dangers pass over. Because you are-"

"Perhaps you should explain what exactly these 'dangers' are, hmm?" questioned Sesshou-maru for our sake, for he already knew what they were.

"Ah, yes, well, as Sesshou-maru already mentioned, Yharas has been missing for a while. Everyone is fearing that either a. someone will try to take her position and then overthrow Zhiren, or b. Zhiren herself will take advantage of this and try to take the lesser blades for her own, as mentioned before. We have reasons to suspect either, or even worse, both, happening soon. Starting with the coincidence of Riyo ending up here, where Yharas and Zhiren were last seen together."

This time, before anyone could question, Eclipse explained.

"Sesshou-maru, would you kindly unsheathe your blade and hold it up to the light?"

Sesshou-maru complied.

"If you would notice, the colors that his prism present to us are actually quite faint. This is, hopefully, the same for the dark prism on Zhiren's sword. The only way to make these colors stronger is to combine the lesser swords with either of the greater blades. To do so would give the sword such unimaginable power. But, this can only happen if the greater blade receives all seven lesser swords. Because you wield the lesser blades, it is your duty to go find your brothers and sisters

Having finally warmed up, I reopened my eyes. _It is your duty to go find your brothers and sisters._ I couldn't help but shiver, though I had adapted to the cold. Go risk our lives to find the others while some warriors with deadly swords hunt us down. Meanwhile, not knowing where the hell we going or where what we're looking for is. That was what Eclipse was telling us to do, wasn't it?

"Riyo?" I heard Kenshin growl through the door. "You _are_ ready, aren't you?"

I jumped up. Fifteen minutes, Erutis had said. Who knew how long I had been sitting here daydreaming?

"Uh, wait a sec"

I quickly changed, picturing Kenshin waiting there by my door as I threw on what Erutis had laid out for me. I paused for a second before rushing out the door to look at myself in the mirror. The clothes seemed like something any traveling knight would want. It was pretty much what Erutis always wore, except blue instead of green. It was complete with the boots and the sheath, along with a small pouch attached to the belt, for holding things. I slipped in the small black stone Kenshin had given to me after being attacked but a servant of the dark and removed my ring. I waited until it had fully transformed in to the blade, then sheathed it. Well, this was it. Hadn't I always wanted to go on an adventure like this? I could remember wondering why this world seemed so boring. I am fearless, I reminded my self. Didn't I once say that all fear is only ignorance? I took a deep breath to calm myself down. This was it. There was no way I was going to turn back.

"Riyo?"

"Coming!"

I closed the pouch and ran out to Kenshin.

"Ready! Lets go!"

=^o.o^=

Vile chants filled the air as Zhiren's army drudged past. Moans of exhaustion blended with those chants.

"Lighten up, men!" Zhiren chortled from ahead of them all. "Don't tell me your tired from a little walk! We must get to the cataract by tomorrow's nightfall."

She waved a hand, at which everyone stopped to rest with relief. One of the soldiers hurried over, dragging behind him two chained boys close to fainting from exhaustion. One was Mokuba, the younger brother of Kaiba. The other was Max.

"Now tell me boys, how are you enjoying your trip?"

"My big brother is going to get you for this!" Mokuba burst out. "I'm telling you, when he finds out what you're doing, he's gonna-"

Zhiren waved her hand, and the soldier began to drag him away, still yelling about what his big brother was going to do to her.

"And you, Max?"

"Uh, fine," he answered nervously. Actually, he wasn't all that used to long walks.

Zhiren pulled out her sword. Max winced, expecting her to bring it down on him. Instead, she just held it up to the light.

"A beauty, isn't it? I wish I could share it with others, but unfortunately, not everyone can be trusted."

She turned and smiled at him.

"But I can trust you, can't I?"

Max nodded with stupid enthusiasm. She sheathed the sword.

"I certainly hope so. There are things I wish to accomplish, but I fear I cannot accomplish them alone. But you'd help me, wouldn't you?"

He nodded again.

"Would that be an agreement? Would you really be willing to take sides and fight along side with me?"

Max sat for a moment in thought, though he knew he'd do pretty much anything to get out of these chains to fight with her.

"Yes."

TO BE CONTINUED


	9. History Tends To Repeat Itself

Me: "Once again, SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! After having Laurie (btw, thanx for all the reviews) point out how long it was since I had updated, I kinda rushed to finish it. I've just been really busy recently. Anyway, THATZIE, PLEASE DON'T FEEL LEFT OUT! Unless you object, I WILL figure something out. RATH AND SET, are you really going to put all those ideas you we came up with into your fanfic? 'Cause that's gonna be one disturbing story. BUNNY (that's you, Cristina) wow, you actually made it to this chapter. Still get what's going on? NIKI, sorry, but for what, I'm not positive. Bronze, you say? Interesting. AHARAH, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING ME! It really does make a difference. ~_^"

Kenshin: "There goes. Once she opens her mouth, she can't shut up. I swear, this full moon is making her loony."

Me: "Elven blood, must I remind you? Now, I know that we still havn't left the Demon Lord's Castle, but I PROMISE YOU we will in the next chapter. Also, another name change has taken place. Jamie is now Xandria. Rath, I decided, the name suited you a lot better. And I do not, unfortunately, own Demon Diary, Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Yu-Gi-Oh, Gundam Wing, or Yu Yu Hakusho. Buh-bye!"

Kenshin: "Buh-bye? The moon IS making her loony!"

=^o.o^=

Kenshin grabbed on to the back of my shirt, preventing me from darting down the hall.

"Where do you think you're going?"

I paused, embarrassed.

"Um, yeah, how exactly do you get out of here? I mean, besides jumping out the window," I added, for that would be something Kenshin would suggest.

Kenshin cocked an eye and gave me a puzzled look.

"When you get outside, where are you going to go?"

"Looking for Yuske, Shampoo, and Duo."

"Where?" 

"Uh, um, well, you know-"

"Do you expect them to be just taking a hike on the mountains? Or perhaps worshiping at the temples? Or, who knows, maybe they could be in town, taking a bite-"

I whacked him upside the head.

"I'd prefer you didn't rub in my stupidity."

Kenshin let go of the back of my shirt and rubbed his head.

"That's why we're all supposed to be meeting in Eclipse's office right now."

Right after he side that, he disappeared and the wind was knocked out of me.

"I'd wish you'd warn me before going into you're soul room," I snapped.

_Don't talk to me out loud. You look crazy._

Fine then..

Thank you.

I looked around.

_You looked over the fact that I still don't know my way around._

I'll tell you.

Why can't you come out and walk yourself?

I'm tired.

You're lazy.

Shut up and just start walking before we're late.

Where?

To the right.

_Are you sure? I would think left._

I thought you said you didn't know your way.

I just don't want to get lost, like last time you tried to lead. Maybe we should ask for directions.

No.

Why not?

Ok then, lets see, who should we ask?

Haven't I already told you not to rub in my stupidity?

And so, after giving Kenshin a hard time and a few minor arguments, we managed to find Eclipse's office without missing anything. Actually, that was because Eclipse didn't want to start without us. We entered the room to find Set, Xandria, Cassidy, Laurie, Sesshou-maru, Bakura, Marik, Chris, Erutis, Raenef, and, surprisingly, Takumi all sitting and glaring at us impatiently. Eclipse, sitting at his impressive solid wood desk, seemed to be the only on not annoyed with our lateness. Actually, he didn't really notice when we came in. He was too busy staring into space at the blank wall in front of him. Why he was staring at the blank wall, I have no idea. There was plenty to stare at in his office. Along the walls leading up to his desk were pictures of past Demon Lord Raenefs accompanied with not so pleasant tapestries depicting the Hangma War. These ended at the curtain that would usually go around Eclipse's desk. Today it was pulled back. Behind the desk was a large window with a dark wooden bookshelf on either side. Both were nearly overstuffed with old books written in a language I had never seen. 

"About time, Set growled.

"Sorry, we took a wrong turn at the fighting arena and ended up somewhere near the kitchen," I explained.

"Where's Kenshin?" asked Takumi.

"He refuses to leave his soul room."

I heard a snicker echo in my head.

"Oh, shut up in there," I snapped, knocking on my skull. Everyone stared at me. I was whacked upside the head from behind.

"I'm out here, baka."

I turned around and glared at him.

"You only do the to spite me, don't you?"

He grinned. Eclipse cleared his throat.

"Perhaps we should start? Take a seat, please."

Eclipse waved a hand, and two matching chairs appeared beneath us.

"Now, there is no mistake we are tight on time, so lets get straight down to business. As you all should know, you are about to go out on a mission to find the remaining lesser swords. Where these are, we cannot be sure."

"Huh? Why would that be?" inquired Laurie.

"Well," Eclipse began to explain, " if you hadn't noticed, so far, four swords have managed to make their way here, where Zhiren is currently hiding. It appears that the blades are getting restless after so much time without a battle between Yharas and Zhiren, so naturally they'd be coming to the closest greater sword. Since Yharas hasn't been heard from for such a long time. Now, the thing is, these swords have the ability to teleport to other worlds, bit they can only teleport at random. When there is a specific destination in mind, a particular sacrifice is needed-"

"Sacrifice?" Cassidy yelped.

"-of a little blood-"

"Oh," I commented calmly. "Is that why Kenshin told me not to touch the blade?"

"Yes. Usually after the sacrifice, the blade jumps around to random places until it eventually finds the destination. Interestingly, yours seemed to have it's own destination in mind, managed to act own, and got here on it's first try. I have a feeling that the same would have happened with the blade Marik and Bakura brought us is they hadn't been lugging around a mortal. The thing is, when these blades leave there home to go some other world, they leave a trail of their gems behind, as if they were leaving markers to find there way back. Cassidy and Xandria, you will be familiar with this marker. That was what brought you here." 

"Wait, did Riyo's sword leave that behind?"

"Yes. Anyway, what I'm afraid of is the others will not be as lucky. They could end up in hostile places, or who knows, may be in tricky predicaments at the moment. We cannot be sure how their blades will work."

"What?" Xandria burst out. "You mean, you're about to send us out on some wild goose chase for three swords that can be anywhere in the universe?"

Eclipse grinned.

"Yes. But this time, it won't be as difficult. Xandria, as you may have noticed back in your wold, Riyo's sword did not activate until you touched it. The reason for that is because unauthorized mortals cannot control the blades without permission. Now, let me just say, there is a way to teleport to other worlds with the guarantee that you will get to your destination on first try. Sesshou-maru, will you do the honors?"

Sesshou-maru gave a sharp nod.

"Cataract of Reverberation. Was named for how one exists in every world, each leading in to the center of space. There, any world can be accessed. Only when a lesser or greater sword is present can one enter, and unless a greater sword is present, one is likely to get lost."

"Which is why it's a good thing Sesshou-maru is present," Eclipse nodded.

"But still, how are we supposed to actually find them?" Raenef spoke up. It was then that I noticed how quiet most of us had been.

"Well, I suggest that you check their own worlds first. If unable to find them there, find the trail marker their blade left behind."

"Oh great. I see that you seemed convinced that you're not coming with us," Set mentioned.

"No. I am not."

There was a great sudden uproar at this. Once again, much cursing, excessive threats, and few punches were used to calm us all down. Once order had once again been restored:

"Why not?"

Eclipse closed his eyes.

"There are things relevant to this quest that I must deal with here. _Alone_." Eclipse added the last part as Takumi tried to open his mouth.

"Then who is going to go in your place to represent you?" calmly asked Sesshou-maru.

"Isn't it obvious?" 

Eclipse nodded to Laurie.

"That girl."

"Me?" Laurie asked in surprise.

"Yes, you."

=^o.o^=

Agent Sharpe strolled in to Bill Hughes "office" on the second story of the forensics' lab as calmly as possible.

"Hey, Melissa!" Bill greeted her. "Wassup? Hey, you wouldn't know what became of those bullet samples from the Johnson case, would you? Grace needs to check 'em out."

Agent Sharpe placed the gem, along with the bag containing the blood samples, down on Bill's desk.

"I'm not on the Johnson case anymore."

"You're not? Oh, yeah, they put you in that kidnapping thing with Banks. Now what do you have for me here?"

Sharpe gestured towards the gem.

"Recognize this?"

"No."

"Remember that kidnapping case we had a seven years ago, the one that was never solved? That teenage girl went missing?"

"You mean Charoletta LeParas?"

"Yes. Remember that blood sample we brought in? Were you told what was found in that blood?"

"People tend to be reluctant to tell me the whole story."

"A diamond. A diamond similar to this one in front of you. Wanna know where this one was found?" 

"Where?"

"In one of the victims rooms. If I remember correctly, in relation to the room the other diamond was found seven years ago, they were found in the same position."

Bill didn't say anything. Sharpe pulled out a photograph and threw it down onto the desk.

"This look familiar?"

Bill let out a gasp.

"She-she-she looks just like-"

"Yeah, I know. The resemblance is scary, isn't it? Know who it is? That's the girl who went missing most recently."

Bill looked up at Sharpe.

"What do you -"

"Melissa! Bill!"

Agent Banks just came bursting in.

"Melissa, you won't believe it! I went back to the visit the scenes, and at the first and fifth-"

Banks stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He dropped five bags onto Bill's desk. One contained a sapphire, two an emerald, and the two others, blood samples.

"TheseI found these, the sapphire in the first, the emeralds in the fourth and fiftheach in a fresh pool of blood! I swear, it was as if they had suddenly appeared out of nowhere!"

Melissa turned back to Bill.

"Bill"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Check the blood samples, and have the gems examined. Compare the results to what was found on that crime scene seven years ago."

=^o.o^=

By now, I had lost count of the number of threats used to calm down the who-knows- what-number-we-were-on fight that took place since we got here, this time caused by Eclipse's outrageous decision.

"Y-y-your what?" Bakura stuttered. "You're going to let a mortal used your blade?"

"Why not? She would seem responsible enough. She's probably more safe with one than Xandria over here. ("Hey!") Besides, I feel that she should be apologized for being pulled into this. Besides, I have my reasons."

"A mortal!" Sesshou-maru spat the word like poison. "You call yourself a demon! What demon would do that?"

Eclipse folded his hands.

"A Crystal Blade. Handed over to one who had nothing to do with the present wars until now. Now tell me Sesshou-maru, how did that happen? I would have expected the blade to be handed over to one of her own."

Sesshou-maru would not answer Eclipses question.

"What happens between either of the great armies is none of our business."

"Then since you will not fulfill my curiosity, I have no reason to explain my decisions to you."

Eclipse turned to Laurie.

"That is of course, unless you have something against it."

Laurie blinked with surprise.

"Well, um, I, uh, I guess it's ok"

Eclipse rose from his seat.

"Ok then. I guess everything's settled. You know what that means?"

Blank stares.

"Oh, come on? Kenshin? Set? Riyo? No one?"

Sesshou-maru cleared his throat.

"What his trying to say is that your quest"

" begins NOW!"

VOOSH! I usually don't get motion sickness. I guess that means I have yet to get use to transportation spells.

=^o.o^=

Mokuba looked on at the scene before him in disgust. Mokuba had lost count of the number of days he had been traveling with this witch, but it had been long enough. Mokuba couldn't tell how much linger he would be able to take this. Here he was, tied to a tree, while in front of him, that other prisoner was being treated like a guest! There he was with Zhiren, laughing together. Most likely at someone else's misfortune. 

This boy-Max was his name? -had been with them for less than a week, and Zhiren was treating him better than some of her own soldiers. For now, at least. This Max was an idiot. Mokuba had witnessed all of Zhiren's little tricks. How could he be stupid enough to fall for all of them? It was obvious she was just using him. She could not be this nice for much longer. Max's doom was soon to come. Just wait. All Mokuba had to do was sit back and wait.

TO BE CONTINUED


	10. Flashback

Me: YEEESSSS!!!! Finally! I Finally finished the tenth chapter! I'm sooo sorry for the long wait. Anyway, WOW! Tenth chapter! I'm in the double digits!! I know I did this last time, but THANKS EVERYONE FOR SATYING WITH ME!!! I'm so happy. Expect revisions in the last nine chapters sometime next month. I would do them right now, but I'm kinda pressed on time. Notice how this one's shorter than most. Enjoy!

Kenshin: And as usual, she leaves me with the disclaimer. Riyo does not own Demon Diary, Yu-Gi-Oh, or Inuyasha.

~*~

It had started to drizzle outside. Luckily, I had ended up next to a wall, so I was able to regain my balance before falling into the mud puddle next to me. I can't say the same for the rest. Eclipse, Sesshou-maru, Xandria, and Laurie had managed to keep their balance, and Set and Kenshin had wisely gone into their soul rooms, but everyone else weren't so fortunate.

"There is a limit to what we can give you, and each can only carry two, so you'll have to share," announced Eclipse. "Kenshin and Takumi, I'm afraid you'll have to fly yourselves the whole way."

We all gave him a puzzled look. A familiar roar then answered our questions. Takumi turned white, and I immediately went for my blade. All of us cautiously turned around.

"These are specially bred," continued Eclipse. "They should know their way there. But just in case of a need to steer, signal the same as you would to a horse."

We stared into the faces of four intelligent looking Crusaders as we tried to understand what Eclipse had just told us. I heard a squeal somewhere behind me, then a slap and Kenshin mutter "Pathetic."

"I would have preferred that you travel by foot, but there's no time. Zhiren is far ahead of you."

I re-counted. Four Crusaders. Eight riding spaces. Thirteen of us. Two were flying, so that meant eleven were supposed to ride.

"Um, Eclipse?" I piped up. "Slight problem. Four people can't go anywhere."

Eclipse looked at me.

"Hm?"

"Well, there are thirteen of us-"

"Who said thirteen are going?"

There was a chorus of "Huh?" and more puzzled looks.

"Tell me when I said all of you were going," said Eclipse.

No one answered.

"Well," commented Eclipse, "obviously there is still confusion about what exactly is going on."

"He wasn't all that specific to begin with," Xandria mumbled to me. I nodded.

Eclipse, luckily, did not hear her comment.

"You should know that Bakura and Marik are unable to leave at the moment."

I glanced at Bakura and Marik to see if they'd speak out against this. They both seemed to have a look of guilt on their faces.

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed in protest. "Why not?"

"Because the sword isn't theirs," answered Sesshou-maru in a bored sounding voice.

Eclipse nodded.

"Due to this thievery, they cannot go along at the moment because the permission of the true owner of the emerald is needed. Unfortunately, it will not be represented until the matter is looked into in more depth."

Cassidy glanced nervously up at the Crusaders.

"That still leaves four that can't-"

"Two, Cassidy, two," corrected Laurie. "Takumi and Kenshin are flying."

"Oh, yeah, two. Two are stranded."

"Raenef and Chris aren't going," Eclipse confirmed.

"Oh, good," sighed Raenef with relief.

"Why not?" whined Chris. "I wanna go! It's a chance to get away from this damned castle."

"You have a more important job at the moment," explained Eclipse. "The god Rased needs to be represented at this time. This isn't the best moment for you to go off and get yourself killed."

Chris sulked. Somewhere in the background, Cassidy squealed.

"You mean you're making me go with these weirdo's myself?!" protested Erutis.

"Yes."

Somehow, the way Eclipse said that prevented Erutis from protesting further.

"UmRiyo?"

"What, Xan?"

"Where exactly are our yamis at the moment?"

There was a chuckle from Sesshou-maru's direction.

"You really expected them to sit around all through Eclipse's little lecture? You two should especially know that your spirits in particular have little patience and, not to mention, a short attention span."

We all stared at him.

"Uh-oh," mumbled Laurie. "This can't be good."

"Damn it, why do they always do the fun stuff without us?" I whined.

"I know, they never let us tag along!"

"Wonder why," mumbled Sesshou-maru.

We both glared at him.

"Ok, where did they go?"

"Hm? How am I to know? I don't bother myself with the doings of inferior demons."

"Well, you should," Erutis butted in. "You're the one who's going to be in charge of them in a few minutes."

"Yes," yawned Sesshou-maru. "But until then, let me enjoy my freedom."

Obviously, Sesshou-maru was not at the moment in the mood to help out. I let go of my frustration by giving a swift kick to Takumi, who was still lying on the ground.

"Hey, he's your uncle. You ought to know something."

Takumi slowly opened his eyes.

"Huh, wuh?" he said with a dazed, clueless look on his face.

I kicked him again and sighed.

"Baka. Never mind."

"Fools," Sesshou-maru laughed. "This is Set and Kenshin we're talking about. They may be inferior, but that does not mean they are not know for their fondness of destruction."

Sesshou-maru looked us straight in the face. 

"You should know them well enough. Now tell us, where would you two go if you had the time to cause some chaos?"

Xandria and I looked at each other.

"Oh."

"Duh."

"Um, Eclipse, where exactly do the Crusaders live?"

Eclipse suddenly looked very uncomfortable.

"They don't live anywhere. They just wander around the castle freely."

"So what you're saying is that they could be anywhere in the castle wandering freely?"

"Yes."

"No," Cassidy confirmed, "this definitely isn't good."

"What kind of idiotic plan is that?" Xandria asked, more disappointed than angry. "Just leaving Crusaders to wander around freely for anyone to grab,"

"Well, I'm sorry Eclipsed snapped back, "but we're not quite used to mortals trying to steal our killer breathing-breathing guard dragons."

Right on cue, we heard a Crusaders roar nearby, along with much whooping. 

"Yeee-haaaww, this feels good!" we heard Set shout.

"Can I have the reins now?" Kenshin yelled.

"No, it's not your turn yet."

There was a strong breeze that nearly blew Cassidy away as a huge Crusader flew right over us.

"C'mon now," Kenshin said as he grabbed me from about by the back of my shirt and threw me on to the back. A second later, Set had Xandria up here too. Next thing I knew, we were hanging on for dear life as the dragon flew upwards. When I finally gathered up enough guts, I looked down. Eclipse was having a tantrum, screaming something I couldn't quite make out. Everyone else was rushing to get on a Crusader. Sesshou-maru had bullied everyone into letting him have his own, Cassidy had managed to stick with Laurie, and Erutis had unfortunately ended up with Takumi.

As the five of them took off after us, Raenef and Chris ran with their shadows, also shouting. Well, finally. We were finally off, out of that castle. So much for the dramatic exit.

Eclipse stopped shouting and sighed as he watched the five dragons fly off.

"That's it," Hejem announced, appearing behind Eclipse. "Now we have no choice but to wait."

He walked up beside him.

"Do you think I did right? Sending them off like that?"

Hejem nodded.

"What other choice did you have? Did they not all come at the appropriate time?" He looked at the fading shadows. "Though I find Set and Kenshin an unusual choice. Watching them through this ordeal will be interesting.

~*~

Cristina woke up to the sound of raindrops on the foliage above her, the scent of last night's campfire still hanging in the air. Had she been left? There was a mix of panic and relief. If she was a lone, she was free. If she was alone, she was lost. Cristina opened her eyes. There she was. The white haired woman sitting on the old tree stump.

__

It had been a warm summer evening. Cristina was five years old. She had been running in those woods with her older cousins. To them, she was a nuisance. Always following them around, never leaving them alone. It was getting dark, and Cristina had stopped. She thought she had seen something. Something white and shiny. She had gone off to see what it was, but the second she stepped off the trail it disappeared. Cristina looked back. Everyone was gone. They had left her. She was alone. She panicked and started running yelling her cousins' names. Cristina wasn't watching where she was going, and tripped. Her head hit something sharp. Her tried to get up, but her head hurt. She felt it. It was wet. She lied there, panicked, bleeding. She closed her eyes. I don't want to die. 

__

"Don't move," someone said. 

Cristina opened her eyes. There was a young woman with whitish-blonde hair in a white dress standing over her. She brushed her hair out of Cristina's wound and touched it. 

"Shhh, everything's going to be okay."

Cristina blacked out. The next thing she heard were her parents calling her name.

It was the same woman. Cristina was sure of it. Her hair had faded to white now, though, and she was dressed as Cristina had always drawn her. But it was her.

"You're awake," the woman said simply. She picked up her pack. "Come, we must keep moving. They set off and hour ago. We have to keep up."

Cristina got to her feet.

"We'll eat breakfast as we walk."


	11. Sesshou!

Me: I have given up on disclaimers.

Kenshin: 'Bout time. You're a fugitive and you waste your time on _disclaimers_?

Me: Who's the fugitive?

Kenshin: You, me, what's the difference?

Me: Whatever. Anyway, I've decided not to write anymore disclaimers unless a manga/ anime I have not yet mentioned becomes involved. The beginning of this chapter involves another rant with the Missing Persons Department. Sorry 'bout that, but it might prove useful later. And I've noticed that this fic is starting to sound like LOTR, so I'm just going to say here and now that I don't own it. Enjoy!

=^o.o^=

At first, Banks didn't hear the knock at his door for his CD player's volume was at it's highest. After three tries, Melissa gave up and walked in.

"Chris?"

Chris Banks looked up from a file he had been reading, surprised. She sighed and removed the earphones from his head. Her partner could act so childish at times.

Melissa threw some stapled papers down on his desk.

"Those blood results came in. Positive."

Chris picked up the papers and glanced through them.

"For who?"

"Both. Both Cristina and Charoletta."

Chris glanced up at Melissa.

"What?" he asked, making sure he had heard correctly.

"Both. They must have double-checked it ten times. Their blood was identical. And not even that, they even tested DNA, just for kicks. You want to know how that turned out? " 

"How?"

"The same. Identical."

There was some sort of panicked look in her face; some sort sign that implied she was close to a nervous melt down. Chris stood up and walked over to her.

"So, you're saying they're the same person?"

"I have no clue what the hell I'm saying! They're the same person except for the fact that IF CHAROLETTA'S ALIVE TODAY, SHE'S GOTTA BE AT LEAST TWENTY YEARS OLD! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, HER IDENTICAL TWIN IS SEVEN YEARS TOO LATE!"

"Shhh, shhh," Chris hushed. "Calm down, it's all going to be all right." He could hardly believe what she was saying. He _wouldn't_ believe what she was saying if it weren't sitting in front of him on paper. Melissa stepped over to the desk and placed her hand upon it, struggling to keep her balance. There was an awkward pause.

"Chris, do you believe in reincarnation?"

=^o.o^=

Despite Set and Kenshin's struggles to keep up front, Sesshou-maru soon caught up with our Crusader.

"Now that is exactly the kind of thing that will bring you to your next end," he addressed them. Sesshou-maru maneuvered his Crusader in front to block ours. "Get off."

"Wuh?"

"I'm talking to you, Feathers."

Get it where it hurts. I could hear Kenshin's wings cracking as he flexed them.

"Now Sesshou, dear friend, surely we can wok something out."

"Do I have to be any clearer?"

Set butted in.

"Are you saying you truly believed what Eclipse-"

"It appears you two consider yourselves the wiser. Very well then."

Sesshou allowed his Crusader to fall back to the side, as if in surrender. I relaxed. Perhaps there would be no showdown today. But just as I began to breath again, his Crusader shot upwards at a sharp angle, so quickly it's tail swung out and into Kenshin, carrying him up into mid-air. A chorus of swears could be heard, along with a few screams from behind us. Sesshou-maru participated in neither. I could have sworn I had heard his wild malevolent laugh. Sunlight was blocked for and instant as the tip of the knobbed tail covered it precisely. All purely intentional for effect, obviously.

The tail swung back, forcing Kenshin to let go and fall into empty space. The shadow was removed just in time for me to witness Kenshin to fall by us, just out of reach. Despite ourselves, we all leaned dangerously over to watch as he fell helplessly towards earth, facing up towards us. Falling, fallingand within less of a second, he flipped over to face the ground and drew his wings back, as if in a nose-dive. In another split second, he shot upwards spread out his wings to soar up to our level with amazing speed. 

"What the hell was that for?" he and Set yelled in unison to Sesshou-maru. Not answering, Sesshou-maru glided underneath us to our left, between Kenshin and the rest of the group. He directed upwards so that his Crusader fitted right beneath ours without any colliding wings. 

"You," he addressed Xandria. He pointed down to the Crusader he was ridding. "Here."

"_What?_"

"He wants you to get off," explained Set.

"_What_?" she exclaimed once again, not quite getting it. "And _how_ exactly am I supposed to do that?"

I leaned over the side and looked down.

"Jump, I guess. He's in the right position."

Set glance nervously from the reins down to the impatient-growing Sesshou-maru to Kenshin.

"Well, jump for crying out loud, before he does something!"

"_Down there?_ That's gotta be at least 20-"

Set let out a few strong words as he jumped up, threw the reins to me, and leaped over to his hikari.

"For heaven's sake, get down there!" he yelled, pushing Xandria over the edge.

"Sobekuser!" I screeched as I watched. "What the hell are you-"

"Steer the damn Crusader," he snapped. "I'll tend to my hikari, thank you!"

I heard a soft thud, a "Oww", then a "She's fine!" from Kenshin.

"Sobekuser, you just wait, oh, you just wait till I have the chance to get out my spiked-gloves. I'm gonna rip out-" she was cut off by something.

"Thanks, Sesshie!" Set shouted down. "Shit," he mumbled as he turned back. "I am in troouuuble."

"You bet you are," I said slapping him upside the head.

"Hey, what was that for?"

"Xan probably would have liked me to do that."

"Nah, she'll be getting out those spiked glovie-thingies later."

"What is this, every man for himself?"

"Yep."

"And I though you wanted to live for a few more years."

"Hey, a few twenty feet ain't that bad. Now give me back those reins."

"You'd probably know," I mumbled as I handed them back."

=^o.o^=

"Guthor!" Zhiren shrieked over the mild mumbling of the camp. Half of the men winced. "GUUUUUTHOOOOR!"

"Yes, yes, m' Lady? The hostages?"

"No, no, keep them as far away as possible. I'm sick of the sight. Don't bring that Max-boy to me until we get to the cataracts."

"Yes, m' Lady," Guthor said with a bow and turning to leave.

"Guthor! Did I say you were dismissed?"

"Sorry, m' Lady," with another bow.

"Did the scouts return yet?"

"Yes."

"And the messengers?"

"None but one."

"Good. Which one? Point him out."

Guthor directed her attention to a young boy of about fifteen with pepper gray hair.

"He doesn't belong here."

"He's a recruit."

"His comrades?"

"The same. They never knew what hit them, not even this one. For all he knows, it was a tribe of Yharas. He thinks the scouts saved him," Guthor confirmed with a laugh.

"Perfect. His message?"

"From the Eqatis. They agree to your challenge. The fools are giving you the honor of picking the sight."

"All goes well. Thank you for the wonderful news. Unfortunately, we don't' have the time to fight them. Send the boy back out in the company of a few scouts to lead Eqatis to the Fire Pit. Go to any lengths to make sure none of them survive."

=^o.o^=

Cristina did her happy little skip prance up and around the pile of rocks in the middle of the field they were making their way through. Sure, she had no idea where she was, and she had yet to hear anything about her friends, but things could be a lot worse. It was a fine sunny afternoon, she was out in the fresh air, most likely closer to her goal here then back home, and her "captor" really wasn't all that bad. A little gloomy, but really not all that bad. Speaking of her captor

Cristina turned around once she got to the top of the mini hill.

"Hey, Miss, umLady-with-White-Hair?"

She wasn't sure which confuzzled her more, what to call her or how she had suddenly disappeared from behind her.

"You may call me Seulwyn."

Cristina jumped with a "Meip!" and turned around to face the woman. "Seulwyn? Is that your name?"

"I go by many names," Seulwyn announced as she sat down on the ground and began to unload the sack she had been carrying on her back. "But you may call me Seulwyn."

"Ooooooh." Cristina crouched down and observed as Seulwyn pulled out a flint. "What are you doing?"

"I'm making a fire."

"Ooooh. And what is that for?" she asked, pointing to a flask of bright pink powder.

"For the fire. Do you always inquire with such optimism?"

Cristina grinned. "I'm always cheerful."

Seulwyn gave her a rare smile in return as she lit a fire. "A useful trait indeed, though you must use it with caution. There are times when it is not the right remedy." She stood up. "You might as well sit down, we may be here for a while."

Cristina noticed something strange about the flames as she sat down. Was it the concept of a fire during the day? No, that wasn't it. There seemed to be something missing from the scene. A fuel! There was nothing fueling it! There was no wood, and the grass shouldn't be enough to sustain it. The fire was just burning there on the ground. It had to be some sort of scientific break-through! Cristina wanted to ask, but held in her curiosity as she watched Seulwyn continue.

Seulwyn reached for the flask of powder and flicked it open, pouring a fraction of the contents of the fire. Cristina held her breath and waited, but nothing changed to her disappointment. It soon melted away as Seulwyn took out her dagger so familiar to Cristina. It was completely transparent, and just as well could have been made out of glass or ice. And as Seulwyn had demonstrated, it was a quite sharp and durable tool.

She held the dagger blade down right above the flames, in the direct path of the rising smoke. Cristina allowed her gaze to be lead upwards along with it. There seemed to be something wrong with that picture toono breeze! The air was not stirring, and yet the smoke was rising directly to the east. Seulwyn gave a hum of acknowledgement, and the direction of the smoke began to change, turning from east to northwest like a compass. 

"Very well then!" Seulwyn snapped to no one, pulling out a flask of water and putting the fire out with one drop. She sat down with Cristina. "We'll be waiting."

TO BE CONTINUED


End file.
